Dauntless
by Kickin It Fool
Summary: Ever felt like you knew someone,but realized you never did until disaster struck and you had to help each other survive?What will happen when Jack who is part of the 'It' crowd and Kim who hadn't worried about a title have to help each other through a school shooting?How will they survive and how do you heal when loss like that has hit you so hard?Violence/Death T/REG UPDATES MON
1. Chapter 1 First Day of Junior Year

**So this is a new story that I am going to be co-writing with a new friend of mine, luvkickinit01323. I know that many of you are waiting for the next chapter on my other stories and I am working on them, but I promised her that we could get this out and I am really excited about it. There will be parts that will be hard to read, but it will move you when we are done so I hope you give it a chance. **

**We are dedicating this to everyone who has been affected by school shootings. Life will never be the same, but each day that we live and go on is a tribute to all of those who have fallen. Our prayers go out to all of the families and friends that have been hurt by a tragedy like this. **

**Now, let's get to know our characters and their friends!**

**Remember to check out Polyvore and look for Kickinitfool. You will see any outfits that I talk about in the chapters there. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Kickin It or any of the characters in it. I do not own any of the clothing mentioned in this chapter. I do not own any of the songs used in this chapter. **

**Chapter 1: First Day of Junior Year**

**KIM'S POV**

Have you ever felt like you have known someone your whole life, but realized you never really knew them until disaster struck and you had to help each other survive? Well, this is what happened to me with…but I am getting ahead of myself. For you to really understand what I am talking about, I need to start at the beginning.

***********************************6 Months Earlier*********************************

It was the first day of my junior year and I was really excited. I got up early to make sure that I looked as perfect as I could. I have never been one of the 'It' crowd, but I am fine with that. I get along with everyone and they all treat me fine so I don't normally worry too much about my overall status at school. The fact that our school has over 2,000 students and I don't just blend in to 80% of them is quite an accomplishment in my eyes.

I am not going to lie to you, though. I would love to really be noticed by someone like Jack or Brody. They are two of the really popular guys at school and we have exchanged 'hellos,' but nothing more. I don't know what it is about guys like them. They are something to dream about and aim for, but never really reach. If I am being honest with myself, I probably wouldn't even like it if they were interested in me because they are both…well, a little too good to be true.

I know that you know what I mean. Every school has those kids that are not only gorgeous, but appear to be the whole package. I mean they are nice, athletic, built, popular, friendly, rich, and even stand up for some of the other kids when the bullies are being too mean. I don't know why, but it always just seems like it can't all be real. I don't want to sound horrible, but I just wish I could really believe that it isn't all just some amazing act that could change at a moment's notice.

I am content with my life and my group of close friends. I feel very lucky to have the life that I have. I live in a nice two story house with my parents, little brother, Ethan, who is a freshman this year, and my older sister, Chloe, who is a senior. We have our good and bad days just like any other family and I feel lucky to have each of them.

My best friend is Grace, who I have grown up with. We have been neighbors since before we were born and never had a choice but to be together since our parents are friends, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I have also been blessed with my Wasabi Warrior friends, who are all like brothers to me. Jerry, Milton, and Eddie are a really great and unique group of guys. We all do karate at the Bobby Wasabi Dojo together under our sensei, Rudy Gillespie, who is also one of the PE teachers at our school.

I finish getting dressed and look at myself in the mirror. I am wearing a navy and white striped flirty skirt with a white cropped tank. I have on my new navy leather ankle boots and some of my favorite jewelry to match. I pulled part of my hair back and left the rest of it down curly. I put navy nail polish and eye shadow on. I did a twirl and felt pretty sure that this would be the right way to start off my junior year. I grabbed my matching suede backpack and headed downstairs to eat something before heading to school.

"Woohoo. Love it, Kimmy." Chloe said with a big smile on her face. She always looked perfect and was eager for me to start showing the world that I was just like her.

"Thank you." I said doing a twirl for her.

That's when Mom came out of the kitchen with a plate full of pancakes for all of us. "Kimberly Anne Crawford, what are you wearing?" She asked looking at me.

"My first day of school outfit that we got when we went shopping." I replied with a smile.

"That is not the outfit that we bought when we went shopping." She said coming closer to me. She pulled at the skirt and added. "I seem to remember there being more to this skirt and the tank top."

Chloe stood up and put her arm around Mom's shoulders. "Oh come on, Mom. Kim just shortened the hemline a little. She looks fabulous and everything is covered according to all of yours, Dad's, and the school's rules." She said.

"You girls will be the death of me. You do look very nice, Kim. I just don't want you to think that is the only way to get attention." Mom said.

"Mom, I know that. I just wanted to look nice for my first day and I am going to wear a cardigan with it. You really have nothing to worry about." I replied.

She gave me a hug and smiled. "I know, Sweetie. Eat your breakfast so that you are not late for school." She said putting two pancakes on my plate.

Mom filled all of our plates and then looked aggravated because Ethan still hadn't made it down to join us yet. She walked over to the bottom of the stairs and yelled up at him. "Ethan Thomas, you are not a girl and there is no need to primp. Get down here before your pancakes are cold."She said and we all started to laugh because Mom tries to be tough at times, but she is no good at it because she can't keep a straight face. Serious is not her thing, but that is what we have Dad for.

"I will go get him, Mom." I said standing up and running up the stairs quickly.

I knocked on the bathroom door and he told me to go away. "Oh come on, Ethan. How long does it take to get ready when you are already adorable?" I said sweetly.

He opened the door just a crack and looked at me with a grin. "You are hilarious. I am in high school now and I need to impress, especially since I have two sisters there." He said.

I pushed past him and looked him up and down. "You look fabulous." I said.

He was not convinced. I turned him around to face the mirror and put my hands on his shoulders. "Look at you. None of the girls at that school are going to be able to resist you and the guys are all going to be jealous of you. Trust me with a face like yours you will be the next Jack Brewer if you want to be." I said as I hugged him and gave him a little peck on the cheek. He smiled at me and we walked down the stairs together.

When we got to the bottom of the stairs, he looked over at me and said, "Speaking of looking amazing, you look great sis!"

"Why thank you." I said.

"I am going to have to beat guys up on my first day if they are ogling you too much!" He said teasingly.

"I can handle the guys myself. You just enjoy your first day at high school and don't worry about me." I replied. Then I looked up and saw Mom staring at us. "But you better get your breakfast eaten because Mom might kill you if you don't." I added with a grin in Mom's direction and we all started laughing again.

There was a knock at the door and we all said in unison, "Come on in, Grace." Mom sat another plate on the table and Grace came in the front door smiling at us.

**JACK'S POV**

First day of junior year and I don't even want to get up out of bed, I like school well enough, but it is definitely not my favorite thing to spend my time doing. Nothing exciting ever happens there. It is always the same thing, year after year, day after day. My twin sister, Kelsey, gets way more excited about going to school than I do because it is like a yearlong fashion show for her and her friends.

Don't get me wrong. I love my little sister and yes she is my little sister because I came 3 hours before her. She is a really sweet person when she wants to be, but it is hard to have a twin sister. Especially when she is in the same 'group' or 'click' or whatever you want to call it because then all of the girls that hang out all of the time are her friends. This means that they have been around you forever and are more like sisters to you than anything else. There is Claire, Julie, and there was Donna. I tried dating one of them once and that went terribly bad. Donna ended up never speaking to my sister again and is now her biggest and bitchiest enemy at school. So I just stay away from all of them in that way now. It is better for everyone.

Brody is my best bro and we are together all the time. We both do karate at the Black Dragon Dojo, are on the baseball and football teams at school, and pretty much rule the school or at least our grade and below. He keeps telling me that I need a girlfriend and the thing with Donna was just a fluke, but I don't buy it. He even tried to convince me to try to take a senior out, but I don't really want to step on Brett's territory unless I have to. Brett is a nice enough guy, but he is the senior superstar and he tolerates me for now. I don't think he would be as reasonable if I made a move on someone like Chloe, his ex, or Taylor, her best friend.

They are two hot blonde seniors that I wouldn't mind turning my charms on, but it isn't even worth it. I just want to make it through my years here at school and then get out of this town to go to college somewhere far away.

I love my family, but I need to get away. My dad is always traveling with his job which is what pays for the way we live and my mom is always sad because he is never here. Then it is just me and Kelsey. If I am telling the truth, it really sucks to live the way that we do. An absentee dad, a mom who drinks more than she should, and a huge empty house for the two of us to ramble around in.

We figured out early on that we could pretty much do anything and Mom would never get on to us. We always have raging parties at the house and everyone who is anyone from school comes to them. Kelsey is excited to have a back to school bash again this year, but honestly I am over it. I don't want to sound indifferent, but I just want to find something else to focus on besides popularity and people that are only interested in being around us because of our money. I don't worry about that with Brody because he has a pretty similar lifestyle to mine, but most of the others I never know about.

Oh well, I can deal with it. It is Kelsey that will be crushed someday if they all abandon her so I will continue to play the part for her for now. I am just ready for a change…ready for something real, if that makes sense. But for now, I will just force myself to get up and get ready for school so that I can get this day over already.

I took a quick shower and I could hear Kelsey's music blaring already in her room. I threw on a brown V neck T and a pair of jeans with my converses. With a quick toss of my hair and a glance in the mirror, I was ready to go. I ran down the stairs and grabbed an apple out of the kitchen. Kelsey was drinking a protein shake and smiled at me as I walked in.

"Good morning, Jack. Aren't you excited about the party tonight?" She said jumping up and down slightly.

"Sure." I replied with a smirk. "It is what I live for."

She shook her head at me and then started talking about the party again. "We have to make sure that only the cream of the crop is invited." She said.

"Kelsey, everyone wants to be here. You know that and you know that you should just let everyone come." I said and she instantly frowned at me.

"Jack, you know that there are some people that we cannot have here. For one, Donna is NOT invited and then I can't have the crazy punk kids, creepers, or the nerds here. I don't want to fight about this, but you know that I am right." She said sternly.

"I think you are crazy, but you are my sister and I love you. You need to be nice to everyone and stop categorizing people because that never leads to anything good. I am going to get out of here and will see you at school." I replied.

I got the death glare and then her face softened to a smile. "Jack, you are going to help me and come tonight, right? I will be nicer like you. I promise just don't leave me alone in this." She said sweetly.

I shook my head and leaned over to give her a quick hug. "I will never leave you alone right now, but you do need to be nicer so work on that." I said teasingly.

She hit me with her elbow in the stomach and then smirked at me. I lightly pushed her back from me and waved as I jogged out the door. She stomped her foot and followed me out the door. "I will see you in a little bit. Tell people about the party." She shouted after me.

I jumped in my car and flew out of our gated neighborhood with Brody right on my bumper. Off to another day and another year of the same at high school. Yeah! As I pull up in the parking lot, I see the usual group of early arrivers hanging out all over campus. You have the jocks throwing a football back and forth in the open yard by the school. Then there are some of the more punk kids leaning up against the building deciding which nerds they want to pounce. Some of the intellectuals are all ready for classes to start sitting around a picnic table with their books out reading them. The creepers, as my sister likes to call them, are hanging out by the corner of the parking lot smoking who knows what. The shy kids all sit together under one of the trees on the lawn. Then you have us and the 'norms,' who are nice enough but just don't hold the same status for whatever reason. I hate all of that stuff, but obviously I have no control over it so I just go with the flow.

I turn around to head over to Brody when I see her car pull in. I know I said that I wouldn't go after Chloe, but there is no harm in enjoying the view. She pulls into a spot and climbs out in a short little navy and white striped skirt with a white tank on that showed off her summer tan gorgeously. Her hair is down and curly which is the best way that she wears it and she looks HOT! Brody makes his way to me and we both enjoy the view as she grabs her bag out of the car and then she turns toward us with that perfect swish of her hair and both of our jaws had to of hit the floor simultaneously. We weren't watching Chloe…it was KIM!

"Wow. Summer treated her really well." Brody said looking her over thoroughly.

I tried to stop myself, but I couldn't. My eyes were really enjoying what they were seeing, too. I looked away from her just long enough to see the real Chloe, their brother, and Grace climb out of the car, too. Chloe noticed me looking Kim over and she smiled in my direction, pointed at her sister, licked her finger, and made like it was sizzling on her hip. She laughed and shrugged her shoulders at me mouthing 'Good Luck' before she walked off with Taylor to meet up with the other seniors.

Shit! Not only did she realize that I was checking her sister out, but she is right. Good luck is what I would need to get any time with Kim. She hangs out with those Wasabi Wabooboos and even though she is nice and cute, there is no way Kelsey will invite her to the party because she has never been a partier.

Wait! What just happened here? Was I just thinking about trying to hook up with Kim? I barely even know her. I mean she is a junior and really gorgeous as seen by all of the guys that can't take their eyes off of her. Why haven't I noticed her before now?

Kelsey pulled up and came over to me. "Have you invited peeps to the party tonight?" She asked excitedly.

"No, I just got here." I answered.

"Jack, we have to get busy if we want it to be bigger than last year." She replied. "Here are the fliers I made so you can hand them out. No one can get into the gates without one so make sure to tell them to keep them with them." She explained.

"I got it." I said shortly.

"What's wrong with you?" She asked.

"Oh, don't let him bother you. We were just enjoying the eye candy that is Kim this year." Brody said teasingly pointing in Kim's direction.

Kelsey looked at her and then shook her head before she looked again. "Wow. That is an impressive transformation, but she is not your type Jack. She is way too nice and well she is a 'norm' so she wouldn't fit with all of your friends." Kelsey said and I glared at her immediately.

"You really need to stop calling people by those ridiculous names you and your friends have come up with. It is only going to get you into trouble." I said and she rolled her eyes at me. "Kelsey, they are people, they have feelings and you can't just categorize everyone all the time. Besides, people will surprise you sometimes because they can change." I added with a smile looking over at Kim.

"Please." She replied as her girls came up to join her and they all walked away together. She turned around and said, "You can invite her if you want, but she won't come and you know it. Jack, there are divisions in high school for a reason and some people just can't ever crossover. Good luck." She smiled as sincerely as she could and walked away.

"Screw that!" Brody said with a smirk. "If you aren't going to ask her, then I am cuz something that fine needs to come to a party and have some fun."

I slugged him in the shoulder and we walked up to the building and nodded toward Brett and his guys as we passed them. That's when Chloe and Taylor walked up to us and Brody smiled from ear to ear.

"Jack, you have a little bit of drool right there in the corner of your mouth." Chloe said with a smirk.

"Very funny, Chloe." I said giving her a slight glare.

"Oh come on. Admit it." She replied.

"Admit what?" I said.

She leaned over closer to me and whispered. "Admit that you just opened your eyes and realized how gorgeous my sister is."

"I don't know what you are talking about." I replied.

"What's going on over here?" Brett said coming over and throwing his arm around Chloe's shoulders.

She quickly shrugged it off and then glared at him. "Nothing. Just giving this junior a little talk about admitting the truth." She said.

"Oh really. What truth are you hiding, Brewer?" He said and I just shook my head. "I don't really care. Are you guys having a party tonight?" He asked.

"Yep. Here is what you need to get in!" I said handing all of them a flier. "Spread the word."I added as I turned with Brody to head to our lockers.

As I looked up, I saw Kim and her friends standing across the hallway at their lockers. I have to admit that I enjoyed a quick glance at her again. I started to walk away and someone grabbed my arm. I spun around ready to hit someone if I had to, only to find that it was Chloe.

"Seriously, just go ask to come to the party." She said. "Brewer, she is the whole package and I am not just saying that because she is my sister. She really is!"

"Chloe, I really can't and you know that." I said as I started to walk away.

Brody grabbed one of the fliers and ran toward Kim. "Hell, I can." He said smirking at me.

**KIM'S POV**

I was standing at my locker when I heard a slight commotion across the hall and looked up just in time to see Brody heading my way fast.

"Hey, Kim. Looking good today." Brody said to me checking me out from head to toe.

"Thanks." I replied trying to act indifferent.

"So there is the annual Brewer bash tonight and I wanted to make sure to personally invite you and get you this." He said smirking and handing me a flier.

I wasn't sure what to say at first and then I thought…no, Kim just be yourself and see what happens. "Thanks. Sounds like fun, but can we all get in on this one or do I need more?" I asked smiling at him.

He looked at me and then at my friends around me. "Let me get you some for your friends." He said trying to decide how that would go over.

Jack walked up behind him and handed me five more of the fliers. He barely even looked at me. I grabbed them from his hand and said. "Thanks, Brewer. See you guys there." I turned and shut my locker and walked away down the hall with a little more of a sway in my hips and Grace at my side.

**JACK'S POV**

"Well that is not what I expected." Brody said watching Kim as she sauntered down the hall.

I was actually intrigued by her lack of enthusiasm. It isn't what I expected either, but I found it very interesting to say the least. I even caught myself watching her as she disappeared down the hall and into a classroom.

Someone tapped me on the shoulder and I saw that it was Chloe. "Really, boys. Were you expecting my sister to jump up and down and tell you how amazing it is that you were speaking to here, not to mention inviting her to a party? Not likely!" She said with a smirk.

She started to walk away and then turned to say. "She has way more to her than that! Trust me!"

"This is unbelievable, bro. What has gotten into the girls around here?" Brody said as we both saw Donna running our way.

"I don't know, but we need to get out of here before we have to deal with Crazy." I said laughing as we turned and headed to our lockers and then class quickly.

**KIM'S POV**

The school day went pretty quickly and I definitely got more attention today than I have in the past. I thought about what my mom said and didn't let any of it get to me unless it was the right kind of attention from the right people. It is interesting how people notice you though. You are still the same person you have always been just with a different outer covering and everyone acts crazy.

I was even approached by Kelsey and her group which was really shocking. They asked me if I wanted to join them for lunch, but I told them that I already had promised to sit with Grace, Jerry, and the guys. They said maybe next time. I felt like my mind was blowing because the most I have ever gotten from them before today was a 'hi' or 'hello' while passing in the hall. I shook it off and enjoyed lunch with my friends.

"I can't believe we are going to the Brewer Bash tonight, yo." Jerry said excitedly.

"Yeah. We need to figure out what we are going to wear." Grace said looking at me.

"You could wear anything and look perfect, mamacita." Jerry replied scooting closer to her.

She smiled at him and then turned back to me. The two of them always flirt, but neither one will take that first needed step so that they can just date already. I shook my head at the two of them and then I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Hey, sis. I overheard you guys talking about needing dresses for the party tonight and we can help you with that." Chloe said.

"Yeah. We know just where to go and get some perfect looks for tonight." Taylor added.

"Perfect!" Grace cheered.

"We will all go right after school." Chloe said as she turned and walked out of the cafeteria.

This is turning out to be a very interesting day. I can't wait to see what tonight will bring. I looked across that cafeteria and saw some other kids talking to Kelsey and her crew trying to score invites to the party. She was totally ignoring them. Then she finished eating and stood up twirling around quickly.

"Listen to me, you little losers! You are not coming to my party! I am sorry to be so honest with you, but you are not even in my realm. Sorry, but bye bye." She said and walked away quickly with one last flip of her hair and her posey chasing after her.

"Wow. That was harsh." I said turning back to Grace.

"Yeah, look at them. They look really upset." She replied.

I looked over to see two girls from my French class that looked really hurt and three guys who looked super pissed. They are more of the Goth crowd and they have quite a talent for makeup. I knew them all and they weren't bad people, they are just different. Kelsey isn't really all that bad either, but she just has no tolerance for different. I looked back at Grace and said, "Maybe it isn't worth it to go to the party tonight."

She looked at me in disbelief and then Jerry was the next to speak, "No way. We are going to that party, but so is everyone else, yo." He said with a devilish grin.

He grabbed his flier out of his pocket and went over to the group that Kelsey had just bashed and they all disappeared. I was really worried about what he was planning, but knew there was nothing I could do about it. I grabbed my stuff and headed for my locker just in time to see Kelsey dashing someone else's hopes of coming to her party. This time it was a couple of the loner kids. They are all really quiet and keep to their own group most of the time, but these three were trying to do something new and it was hard to see Kelsey shut them down so quickly.

I put my things away and just got through the rest of my day. I knew there was no way that I was getting out of this party, especially with my sister and Taylor on shopping duty. So I will just have to make the most of it and that is when I saw what Jerry had been up to.

The kids that Kelsey had denied invites were walking around with a stack of fliers that looked just like ours. He had helped them make copies and now everyone was being invited. I didn't know if I should laugh or cry. I knew this would end my association with 'It' crowd, but a part of me didn't care as long as no one got hurt and nothing bad happened at the party. I shook my head and grabbed all of my stuff out of my locker before heading out to the car with Grace so that we could go shopping! Yeah!


	2. Chapter 2 Party Time

**Kickin it Fool here. As you all know I am co-writing with a new friend of mine, luvkickinit01323. We have had a great time so far working on ideas and things for this. I am writing this second chapter with collaboration from her because she has a lot going on right now, too. I am doing better with my treatments and since they just make me sick, I have a lot of time on my hands lying around in the hospital. I hope that you like where we take this. There will be parts that will be hard to read, but it will move you when we are done so I hope you give it a chance. **

**Thank you all for the wonderful reviews. We love your input and hope that you like what we have to come for you. We have planned for the story to be about 15-20 chapters. **

**We are dedicating this to everyone who has been affected by school shootings. Life will never be the same, but each day that we live and go on is a tribute to all of those who have fallen. Our prayers go out to all of the families and friends that have been hurt by a tragedy like this. **

**Remember to check out Polyvore and look for Kickinitfool. You will see any outfits that I talk about in the chapters there. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Kickin It or any of the characters in it. I do not own any of the clothing mentioned in this chapter. I do not own any of the songs used in this chapter. **

**Chapter 2: Party Time**

**JACK'S POV**

As soon as school was over, I ran out to my car and jumped in to fly off to the dojo. I have to have an escape from everything, but the sad thing is that even the dojo doesn't work that well for that anymore. I was getting into my car when I saw her again. Kim was bent over slightly sitting her book bag behind her seat. I know it is horrible, but when something like that happens you have to look. It would be wrong not to appreciate the beauty right in front of you, right?

But if you stay too long enjoying things that is when you get caught. "Really, Jack." I heard the lovely voice of my sister say from behind me. "You have to stop that. It is unhealthy." She said teasingly.

I turned around to glare at her. "What are you talking about now?" I asked.

"Jack, did she say she would come tonight?" Kelsey asked.

"Yeah. Brody even invited her friends to make sure that she would." I commented back and I saw her face drop.

"Really? Jack, they are not the most popular group. I mean she hangs out with that nerdy Michael guy and that fruitcake Berry." She said.

Julie came up and corrected her quickly. "Actually it is Milton and Jerry." She said and I laughed at the look of indifference and shock on Kelsey's face.

"Whatever. How did you know their names anyway?" She asked turning to face Julie.

"Well, Milton is in my science class. He is actually very smart and a nice guy and Jerry is always waiting outside the class for him." Julie replied and Kelsey looked at her skeptically.

I laughed lightly to myself at the exchange taking place in front of me and then my sister turned back to me with fury in her eyes. "What?" I said.

"Oh forget it. I need you to come to the mall with me and pick up all the supplies for the party." She answered.

"Kels, I have practice and then I do have some stupid homework to get done before the party." I said and she gave me the puppy dog face. "That doesn't work on me."

"You said you would help me. Please, Jack. You don't normally go to practice today." She added.

"Fine." I said obviously pissed off. "What all needs picked up?"

"Thank you. Here is the list I need you to take care of. I will get these other things. We will see you later. Stop staring at Kim and get busy." She said as she turned quickly and jumped in her car.

Brody came walking up with a grin on his face. "Sisters must be so much fun." He said teasingly.

"Oh yeah. You are so lucky you are an only child." I replied.

"You want some help with that stuff. I don't mind to go to the mall to help you out." He said with a smirk.

"Really? So what is the real reason because I know you don't just want to help me?" I asked.

"Well, I did hear Kim and her sister talking about going shopping for dresses." He answered with a grin. "I am hoping to see them while we are there."

"Now that sounds the Brody I know." I said.

"Ha ha very funny." He replied.

"You really are horrible. You know that once Kim is at that party, she is only going to be paying attention to me." I replied hitting him in the arm.

"I don't think so, Brewer." He said.

"Let's go get this crap and get back to the house." I said.

We both jumped in our cars and flew out of the parking lot.

**KIM'S POV**

We had dropped Ethan off at home and been at the mall for 30 minutes already. I had tried on 10 different dresses. Believe me, I love looking good, but this is ridiculous. I found several that were really great, but my sister or Taylor would say no to them pretty quickly. Grace was having a great time, but I could not say the same thing.

Taylor and Chloe finally found the right dresses for them and were working on shoes while I was continuing to go through all of the endless pile of dresses they had picked out for me. They had helped Grace find a dress, too. I came out in a black sweetheart neckline strapless mini dress. It looked really nice and I spun around to see myself better in the mirrors.

I noticed that we were not alone when I heard someone comment from behind me. "Ooohhh, I like that one. You will look really good dancing with me in that." Brody said with a smirk.

I looked at him with a smile. "Well, thank you, but I am not sure that it is quite the right one." I replied while running my hands up and down my sides slightly accentuating my fit in the dress.

I watched as both he and Jack followed my hands and I was totally laughing internally. Chloe came up behind them and nodded her head in approval. "I like that one, but the other one you had on was pretty hot, too." She said as she walked past the two of them with a smile on her face. "Let's put this in your keep pile and you can always wear it for something else."

"So what are you guys doing here?" I asked walking over closer to Brody and Jack.

"We are picking up stuff for the party." Jack said staring at me.

"It's nice of you to help your sister out with that." I replied and he looked at me surprised.

"How did you know that I was doing this for my sister?" He asked.

"Jack, I just know that this is more of Kelsey's thing than yours. It's no big deal." I said smiling at him. God, I love his chocolaty eyes.

"We have lots of things to still try on so I guess we will see you guys later." Chloe said shoving me toward my changing room where she and Taylor had added even more clothes.

I looked back and waved at the guys. "See you later guys. Have fun picking everything up." I said with a smile.

I looked at all of the clothes waiting for me and then back at Chloe. "What is all of this?" I asked. "We are supposed to be getting a dress for the party. Most of this is stuff to wear every day." I added holding up a super short plaid skirt.

She smiled at me innocently. "Kimmy, we are just trying to help you find some more things to wear to school this year. Besides, look at these legs." She said pulling one of my legs up off the ground.

"Those are some pretty amazing legs, Kimmy girl." Taylor agreed. "You are so lucky."

"No, it isn't luck. These are the way a dancer's legs look. Right, Kimmy?" Chloe said winking at me.

"Yes, between dance, gymnastics, and karate, I have been able to get my legs in pretty good shape." I replied. "I guess it can't hurt to show them off some." I added with a grin.

I started trying on all of the clothes they had left for me and ended up with way too many purchases. I really loved all of the items that we had found and finally settled on a dress for the party. I was thrilled with everything, but knew it was too much for us to get.

"Chloe, how are we ever going to narrow this down and choose some of these?" I asked and she looked at me like I was crazy.

"Kimmy, we are getting all of these. I am paying for part of it and Mom gave me her card to pay for the rest. She said that she wanted you to get some more new clothes for school." She replied.

"Are you serious? That is so awesome. Thank you." I said giving her a hug.

As we walked up to the cash register, she leaned over closer to me and put her arm around my shoulder. "There is only one thing I am asking for in return." She said.

Oh, great. Here comes the catch. "What?" I asked hesitantly.

"Kim, I want you to promise me something." She said.

I knew it was serious because she never calls me Kim. She knows how much it drives me crazy to be called Kimmy so she always says that unless she really wants something from me. "Ok?" I asked as my phone went off in my pocket.

I pulled it out quickly and read the text from Mom. **Don't forget practice, twinkle toes!**

I texted her back. **I won't b L8. C u soon.**

Chloe looked over my shoulder and smiled. She looked me in the eyes as she started to speak again. "I got an offer from Ford Modeling Agency and Taylor and I are going to New York right after graduation. We are going to be models." She said with a smile and I gave her a huge hug.

"Chloe, that is…." I started and she put her hand on my mouth to stop me.

"Twinkle toes, I want you to promise me that you will try out for the Dance school you want to go to as soon as you graduate. You can come to New York and live with us. It will be the perfect next step for all of us."

"Chloe, you know I would love to go to SAB, but I can't go that far away. Mom and Dad would hate it." I replied.

She sat all of the clothes on the counter and looked me seriously. "I want you to promise. You have a gift and you need to make the most of it. Mom and Dad will be thrilled for you and we will be together." She said.

I nodded my head and smiled at her. "I promise that I will try out." I said.

She smiled and then she said, "What does SAB stand for again?"

We both laughed and I threw my arm around her shoulder. "It is the School of American Ballet." I answered.

We all paid for our purchases and lugged our bags out to the car before taking off to head home. I ran up the stairs and changed into my clothes for class before running back down the stairs and jumping in Mom's car and we took off.

**JACK'S POV**

We had everything from Kelsey's list and I jumped in my car to head home. I stopped for a soda at the Quik E Mart. As I came out, I looked up to see Kim and an older lady who I am guessing is her mom walking into the dance studio.

I was wondering why this girl kept popping up all over the place today. I felt like I had to try to sneak a peek at what she was doing over there. It actually wasn't too hard because she walked into the classroom that had the huge picture window on the side of the building. I leaned up against the next door building and just watched.

I watched as she stretched with some other students and then as she took the center of the floor. She quickly pulled her hair up in a bun and then she started moving, but she wasn't dancing. It was more like she was flying across the floor. I have never seen anything like this before. She was so graceful and I couldn't take my eyes off of her. I stood there until she was done and then my phone started going off.

I picked it up and started talking to Kelsey. "Jack, are you on your way? The caterers are going to be here soon and so is the DJ. I need to start getting ready." She said in a panicked voice.

"I am almost there." I said as I looked once more at Kim and then jumped in my car to head home to help my crazy sister with her party.

As I pulled in the driveway, I saw a frazzled Kelsey trying to deal with all of the party details that she is not made to handle. I walked up to her quickly and put my hand on her shoulder. She hugged me and looked up at me begging for help.

"I've got this, sis. Go get ready." I said as she jumped up and down and disappeared in the house. "Everything is being set up in two main locations just like always. I want the ballroom and the pool area to look like nightclubs. Main DJ in the ballroom with speakers out in the pool area, too. Food set up along the one wall of the ballroom with several tables set up for people to eat. Got it?" I said and they all nodded.

We have been doing these parties for a long time and everyone here has worked at least one of them before. Kelsey just gets too worked up and stresses way too much about it. I watched while they all sat stuff up and carried in the things that I had picked up giving it all to the staff so they could put it where it belonged.

I sat down on the front porch and watched as all of the madness took over our house. My phone went off again and I picked it up.

"Hi, Mom." I said.

"Hi, Jack. I know that tonight is the big back to school bash so I am going to just go out to the guest house as soon as I get home. Have fun, but remember to make sure no one drives drunk and use protection if you have someone stay over. Okay?" She said.

I never know what to say when she is trying to be the cool mom like that. It is so annoying. "Mom, please stop doing that! I have got it everything taken care of." I said. Sometimes, I think I am more of the adult than she is. I shake my head as I hang up and see Brody making his way over to me.

"Your Mom?" He said.

"Yes, she wanted to remind us to not let anyone drive drunk and use condoms with all the random girls you are going to sleep with." I said sarcastically and Brody started laughing. "I mean whose mom talks like that?" I added.

"Yours." He replied. "Where did you disappear to after the mall?"

I looked up at him and smiled. "I just went to get a soda." I said.

"And what else happened?" he said. "You were gone for awhile."

"I saw some people I knew. I wasn't gone that long." I replied trying to avoid telling him I how I was totally stalking Kim at her dance class.

"Fine, don't tell me but you better go get ready before all of the fine honeys get here tonight." He said teasingly. "It wouldn't be fair to you if you don't get dressed better than that because well…look at me."

I hit him in the shoulder and laughed at him. I ran upstairs and took a quick shower. When I got out, I could already hear Kelsey yelling at someone about the décor. I love her, but if she would just relax and let them do their jobs, it would go much smoother. I threw my jeans on with a tank and ran down to take care of the problem.

"Kels, relax. This looks great and it will be even better when it is dark. I promise. Go finish getting ready." I said.

She turned around to face me and looked like she was ready to kill me. "Jack, it has to be perfect. Tell me you are not wearing that." She said glaring at me.

"It will be and no, I have another shirt I am putting on, but I wasn't going to come down here and get it all sweaty." I said.

Her face relaxed and she went back upstairs and finished getting ready. I turned back to the decorator and said, "Sorry, you know how she gets. It looks perfect just ignore her."

She smiled and nodded her head as she got back to work. Brody walked over to me and was laughing. "I think that you should wear your wife beater to the party. It looks great on you." He said.

"Very funny." I replied. "Can you just keep an eye on things down here while I finish getting ready and make sure that Kels doesn't bother any of them?"

"I got it." He said and I headed back up to finish.

**KELSEY'S POV**

I put my dress on and looked in the mirror. It was perfect, but it had to be…I had to be. I don't know why I have to be such a well…bitch…for lack of a better word, but that is my part. Jack is the nice one and Mom and Dad think he is perfect and I have to find a way to be that, too. He can do everything. He is on the football team, baseball team, a champion at karate, and he gets good grades. He will be able to go to whatever school he wants to and I am still going to be stuck here in this mess if I am not careful.

I have to make it work here because I don't have any other choice. I love my friends and I hope that they would always be there for me, but I don't know that for sure. Look at what happened with Donna. She was only being my friend to get close to Jack and then when that fell through she tried to ruin my life.

She spread all kinds of rumors about me and I almost lost my status at school because of it. I had to fight back hard and I did so now I am still the queen bee and she is a slut and everyone knows it. I will not let go of my position, no matter what I have to do.

My parents love me and so does my brother. I honestly don't know what I would do without him because he is my rock, but I only have him with me for two more years so I have to make the most of it. This party has to be epic because that is what everyone expects. Only the cream of the crop will be here and it will cement my status for the rest of the year.

I was nice today and let Jack invite Kim and her friends which went against all of my rules so I did my good deed. I know I sound horrible, but I live this life that looks all shiny and perfect on the outside and is really empty and dull if you look to close. I can't ever let anyone look that close. I keep people at a safe distance and only let them see the façade that is my picture perfectness because that is what I have to do.

My real life is not nearly as pretty. I can let you in on some of it. My dad travels all of the time to make sure that the big money keeps coming in, but also because he is cheating on my mom with tons of women. My mom knows, but she won't do anything about it because she doesn't want to lose the life that we have. Instead of losing that life, she drinks it away. At least she does it in the privacy of our own home most of the time. There was only a few times that someone working at the country club had to drive her home and that was all kept under wraps. Thank God for Jack paying those people off.

I refuse to let my entire life end up like this, but for now it is the only life I have. I will find a way to get out of this town and make something of myself. I just don't know how I am going to do that yet and I refuse to do what my mother did and marry some guy who will pay the bills but not really love me. I am not going to be a trophy wife. I can't be, but for now I will play my part and I will play it perfectly.

I look in the mirror again as I slip into my Jimmy Choos and feel like I have successfully accomplished my 'perfect' for tonight. As I turn to the door and start to walk out of my room, I see Julie and Claire heading my way.

"You look totes amazing, Kels!" Claire said grabbing my hand.

"Thank you. You look fab, too." I replied as Jack walked out of his room looking perfect as always. "You look great, Jack." I added.

He smiled as he headed down the stairs. "You all look very nice, too." He said as he disappeared quickly.

"Everything looks perfect downstairs." Julie said with a huge smile.

"Good. I was worried for awhile because the decorator kept messing up, but we straightened her out." I said. "Did you both bring the swimsuits we talked about in case we decide to swim?"

"Absolutely." Claire answered quickly.

"Yes. I have it right here. Is it okay to leave it up here in your room?" Julie asked.

"That's fine just put it over on my desk." I said.

We made our way downstairs for the final inspection before everyone started showing up. We tried some of the food and it was really good and the ballroom was the perfect nightclub. Then we walked out to the pool where the nightclub look had been carried over perfectly. It was exactly what I needed it to be and nothing would ruin this night. It was going to be the best party we had yet.

**KIM'S POV**

I had the best dance class I have ever been to. Between ballet and hip hop, I felt like I was able to just let go of everything that bothers me and leave it all on the dance floor. Mom always comes with me to class because she said that she loves watching. She sits quietly in the room and I love to watch her face while I dance. See, Mom used to be a dancer, but she gave all that up to be a mom.

My parents are wonderful people, but like a lot of teenagers, they had sex before they were married and Chloe appeared before they expected. They never made her feel like she was a mistake. Mom always said that Chloe was her miracle and actually showed her what her dreams really were. She said that she always wanted to be a dancer, but being a mom was the dream that she never could have had without all of us. They got married before Chloe was born and then a little over a year after her, they had me. They waited a little while and then along came Ethan. With him, Mom and Dad said that our family was complete. I know how lucky I am and I will never forget that.

Now, Mom lives out all of her dreams through all of us. She takes part in our lives and our dreams. She makes sure that we get the opportunity to be whatever we dream about. She is quite literally, the best mom in the entire world.

On the ride home, she asked, "How was school today?"

"It was great. I got a lot of attention, but I only took notice of it if it was the right kind." I said smiling at her.

"I'm glad to hear it. I saw that your shopping trip with your sister was successful." She said looking at me happily.

"Yes, it was. I think that the best part of my day was right now though." I said sincerely.

"Me, too." She agreed. "You did an amazing job out there tonight. You are so talented and can do anything that you want to. You know that, right?" She added.

"You tell me enough that I should know that." I answered leaning over to give her a hug while she drove.

We pulled in the driveway, climbed out of the car, and she put her arm around my shoulder as we walked into the house. "Have fun tonight, but don't be out too late. You have school tomorrow." She said.

"You know that our kids wouldn't stay out too late on a school night." We both looked up and saw Dad standing at the front door.

"Hi, Dad." I said giving him a quick hug. "We won't stay out too late. I promise, but I better go get ready before Chloe, Grace, and Taylor decide to leave without me."

I ran upstairs where they were all waiting to start my makeover. I showered quickly and they went to work. We all stood up together and looked in the mirror.

"We look Damn good!" Taylor said with a grin.

We all smiled at each other and grabbed our bags on our way down the stairs. "Oh la la." Dad shouted from the dining room as we passed.

"Oh, let me get the camera. I want to take a picture of all of you. You look so fabulous." Mom said.

While she was lining us up on the stairs, Ethan came out and looked pretty fabulous himself. "Are you going to the party, too?" I asked looking at my adorable little brother.

"Yes, I am and I would be thrilled to accompany you ladies." He said smoothly.

"Oh, I like that. You are so cute. I love the way you make it sound like you are doing us a favor by taking us when it is really that you need a ride, handsome." Chloe said messing up his hair slightly.

He quickly smoothed it out and looked down at Mom. "Now you can take a really good picture because I will be in it." He said with a grin on his face.

We all started tickling him and then Mom spoke up. "Alright, all of you, let me get some pictures of you all smiling at me, not just ganging up on Ethan." She said while she continued snapping pictures.

We all stopped and posed perfectly for her and then struck some fun poses, too. We headed out the door and we jumped in Dad's car, which is an SUV, so we all fit comfortably. We stopped and picked up Jerry, Milton, and Eddie and then we were on our way to the party. When we pulled in the gated community and had to show that we each had an invitation to pass, I remembered about Jerry helping everyone to get invites to the party. This should be an interesting night! I just hope that it doesn't all blow up in our faces!

**JACK'S POV**

It was early and the party was already going strong. The DJ was awesome and the lighting in the room made it feel like you were in a nightclub in the city. Everyone was having a blast, but not too many were dancing yet out by the pool. I headed inside and there were a few people dancing inside.

As I walked closer to the group, I saw who it was. It was Kim, Chloe, Taylor, and all of Kim's friends. They were having a good time dancing and I have say that they all looked great, especially Kim. I don't know what it is about her, but I really should have seen her sooner.

She was wearing a HOT little mini dress. The black skirt of it flared slightly and the halter top was blue with the perfect peek-a-boo cutout that showed off her cleavage. God she is really FINE! I watched as she danced to 'We Can't Stop' and actually found myself a little jealous that I wasn't the one out there dancing with her.

The next song came on and it was 'Replay.' Another guy from our class came out on the floor behind her and grabbed her hand spinning her around. She smiled at him and they started dancing a routine to the song. Everyone was watching them as they moved perfectly to the music and made it look effortless even though she had huge heels on.

I was so memorized that I didn't even see Brody come up beside me. "Damn, she just gets hotter and hotter, doesn't she?" He said.

"Yeah, she does." I answered without even thinking about it.

"Wow, Brewer is admitting that he is interested. Too bad you aren't as good of a dancer as I am." He said with a smirk as he made his way out to the floor to join in.

"What is going on over here?" Kelsey asked as she joined me. "Wow, she is really good. I can't believe she came, but look at her. She is a natural, Jack. I guess I was wrong."

I looked at her waiting for her to explain. "About what?" I asked.

"I guess people can jump groups sometimes. Kim will have to be one of my girls if this keeps up." She said walking away with a smile.

I turned back as the next song started and watched Brody grab Kim's hand to dance with her to 'Slow Down.' I shook my head and watched as he was having way too much fun with her. He may be my best friend, but he is not going to win that easily. I can dance; I just don't do it that often.

I started to walk out to the dance floor when I had two arms wrap around me and heard the voice to go with them. "Hi, sexy. I have missed you so much."

I turned to see Donna while I carefully peeled her arms off of me and held them away from my body. I about passed out when I saw what she was wearing. She had on a black dress…well, I don't know if you can call it a dress or not because there was not much to it. It was a black mini dress that had been shredded. She was practically falling out of it and her friends didn't look all that much better.

"How did you get in here?" I asked disgusted.

"With my invite, Baby." She said.

"You were not invited." I spat at her and that is when Kelsey saw her.

"Holy hell. What are you doing here, you skank?" She shouted as she walked toward us.

"They are all leaving right now, Kelsey. I am escorting them out myself." I said.

"We are not going anywhere. We were invited and are going to have some fun." She said as she caught sight of Brett and some of the other football players. "If you aren't interested, there are plenty of other guys here. And good luck with that one…" She said pointing out toward Kim. "She is way too much of a goody goody for you, Baby. You will get bored really fast."

"Fine, go on. You cause any trouble and I will throw you all out." I said letting her go.

"Jack, how did this happen?" Kelsey said getting really upset.

"I don't know, but it will be okay. Just stay cool." I said and she took a few deep breaths before crossing the room to her friends to do damage control, I'm sure.

I turned back to see Kim dancing with someone else. Man, this is crazy. She came out of nowhere and now everyone is paying attention to her. Brody walked back over to me. "Well, this just got interesting." He said motioning toward Donna. "She is going to fall out of that thing and I am not even interested in seeing anything she has."

"No one is." I replied with a laugh. "You looked like you were having fun with Kim. Why did you let her go to dance with someone else?"

"I didn't have a choice. She is an equal opportunity kind of girl. I tried to convince her to stay with me, but she wouldn't do it. I don't get this girl." He said.

"She is just enjoying all of the new attention." I replied. "It has to be a thrill to have all of these guys noticing her now."

"Man, you are crazy. Most of these guys have always noticed her. We are the only idiots that haven't until now." He said.

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"Well, that first one is in dance class with her apparently and this one told me that he is in PE with her. He said something about seeing her in her gym uniform is always amazing. They all know her and have for awhile. We are among a very small group of douches that didn't see what was right in front of our faces." He explained.

"Damn straight." I heard Chloe say from behind us. I turned around slowly to her smirking face. "You are two of the douches that missed out on the amazing person that is my sister so she will be nice, but she won't be stupid. Too bad for you." She said as she went back out to dance with Kim and the rest of them.

"Unbelievable." I said shaking my head to try to clear it. "Well, I guess I need my turn then." I looked back at Brody as 'Hurricane' started playing. "I will have to see how this goes."

I walked out to her and grabbed her hand pulling her to me. She smiled that electric smile and started dancing with me. We were having fun and tons of people were starting to dance and the floor was getting crowded.

I leaned over to her and took a leap. "Do you want to go see if there is more room out by the pool?" I asked.

She nodded and I took her hand while I led her out to the pool. Not very many people had made their way out there yet so it had a lot more room for dancing.

"So, Kim, I have to ask you a question. How is it that I have not seen you very often before now?" I asked.

She looked me in the eyes with a look of disbelief and then she looked a bit upset. "Jack, you have seen me all over, you just never paid attention. I guess you should try to figure out why because I wouldn't know." She replied.

"Kim, I didn't mean to upset you. I am being serious because I knew you, but I didn't see you out much." I tried to explain.

The fury grew in her gorgeous hazel eyes. "Jack, I have always been around. I was in four of your classes last year and three this year. I have seen you at several karate tournaments and my dad's detailing business when you bring one of your many cars in. I work in the office for him sometimes. I have served you at the country club when you eat with your family and friends. And here's a big one…I am the one who has brought your mom home four times when she couldn't make it home on her own."She said as she turned away from me with a really mad flip of her hair.

"Wait, Kim. I'm sorry." I said.

She turned back to look at me and walked right up to me pointing her finger in my face. "You know what, Jack." She said as her face softened slightly. "I was the person that you stood this close to when I helped you get your mom into the house from my car. You tried to give me money every time because I was just the help and every time I turned you down because I didn't do it for money, I did it to be a nice person. That is something you might want to try sometime." She said as a single tear escaped her eye and I tried to reach up to wipe it away, but she turned and ran back into the house.

Shit. Brody was right. I was a douche. How could I have not known that it was Kim all those times? How could I have ignored her so much? I felt like a total dick and I didn't know how to fix it, but I knew who might be able to help me. I would have to see if Chloe would help me to fix this somehow.

**CHLOE'S POV**

I was happy for Kim that she was having a good time until I saw her run back into the house. I followed her to the bathroom and went in with her even though she was telling me not to.

"What happened, Kimmy?" I asked.

"Nothing. I just realized how truly invisible I am." She said.

"What are you talking about?" I said taking her hand in my face and making her look at me. "You are not invisible. Why would you think that?"

"Chloe, it is fine really. Jack just asked me why he hadn't ever seen me before now and I kind of lost it and told him how much he should have seen me." She said and then she got an angry look in her eyes. "I didn't realize that he had never seen me. He didn't remember any of the times I had seen him. How is that possible?"

"Listen to me. He didn't see you because he is an idiot and he is not worth your time. Now we need to go and show him what he has lost out on because of being an idiotic ass." I said and Kim laughed lightly. "So are you ready to go show them all?"

"Yes. Let's go have some fun with our friends." Kim replied.

I fixed her makeup quickly and we walked back out to the party. We started dancing and she made sure to pay attention to the people that mattered. She danced with everyone and had a great time. I went to get a drink and Jack came up to me.

"What do you want, Brewer?" I asked disgusted.

"I want to know how to fix this with Kim. I want to get to know her better." He said.

"I don't think so." I said and started to walk away, but he stopped me.

"Please, Chloe. I am not the jerk that you think I am. I swear that I do have some things in my life that people don't know about me." He added trying to explain his idiocy.

"Actually, I think you are an Ass." I replied.

"Fine, I'm an Ass. Help me please to show her that I am not as big of an Ass as she thinks." He said again.

"Why should I?" I asked.

"Because…because I want to really get to know her. I saw her at dance class today and I couldn't take my eyes off of her. She is the whole package like you said and I want to get to know her…the real her." He said which actually almost impressed me.

"Fine, but you are going to have to work really hard." I said.

"I will because she seems like she is a really special person." He added.

"She is. She is an amazingly special person with a heart of gold." I agreed.

"I have no excuse for not figuring this out sooner except that there is a lot more shit in my life than anyone knows about. I didn't know she was the one who brought my mom home because I didn't want to see who had done that. It was embarrassing and I just wanted it to go away. It was bad enough when she would drink too much here and I would have to take care of her, but to have someone else know was too much." He explained.

I actually felt bad for him. "Jack, listen. I don't need to know about all of that. I will help you with Kim, but you better not ever hurt her again or I will kill you myself. The first thing is that you should tell her all of that stuff as soon as you can. She is a real softy when it comes to people opening up to her. It will go a long way to help your case." I said as I left him and went back to dance with my sister and brother.

**JACK'S POV**

I can do that. I thought as Chloe walked back out to the dance floor. I was about to go over to Kim and try again when I heard Kelsey scream.

"What are you doing here?" She said.

I turned around to see her yelling at some kids from school that she did not want invited. I made my way over there, but the damage was being done already.

"We were invited." One of the kids said showing his invitation.

"How did you losers get those? None of you were supposed to be here tonight. You need to leave right now." She shouted.

"Kelsey, calm down. There is more than enough party for everyone to enjoy." I said pulling her back away from them.

They all started dancing and eating as I took a fuming Kelsey into the other room. "Jack, this is a nightmare. How did Donna and all of these losers get invites to this party?" She said to me while I heard the shakiness in her voice.

"Kels, it is not that big of a deal. They will party and then everyone will go. You still will have had the biggest and best party ever." I said trying to defuse this bomb.

"Jack, this is not going to end well. With all of those losers here, this is going to ruin our status at school." She said. "I have to get them to leave."

"Kels, that is not a good idea. Let it go." I said.

"Fine, but this is not over. I will find out how this happened and make whoever is responsible pay for it." She said as she stormed off.

Luckily enough, the rest of the night went relatively smoothly. I only had to diffuse a few more arguments between Kelsey and her uninvited guests. I didn't really get to enjoy much of the party or spend any more time trying to fix things with Kim, but I guess I will just have to work on that at school tomorrow.

I went out to the pool to find several people enjoying the pool and to my surprise Kim was one of them. As she pushed herself up on the edge of the pool, I actually felt my heart skip a beat. She is absolutely gorgeous. She was wearing a white and black bikini that looked like it was made for her.

I stood there and was ready to go get my trunks on to join the fun when I heard another argument so I had to run interference.

"Listen to me, you fat cow. You do not belong at this party, but if you try to go put a swimsuit on, I will throw you out myself. No one should have to see most of these idiots in swimsuits because it is so wrong, but definitely no one needs to have to endure you." She yelled at Donna.

"Alright. You both need to stop. Donna, I let you stay, but you are not swimming. You already are not wearing enough clothes as it is. Now go on if you want to stay." I said sternly and she walked away smiling.

I turned around to see some of the other uninvited guests with really upset looks on their faces from what Kelsey had said. Several of them were climbing out of the pool and drying off. I walked over to try to smooth things over, but it was too late.

"She didn't mean it guys. She was just upset with Donna." I said, but the damage was done.

I watched a lot of angry and hurt people leave the pool and the party pretty quickly after that. I even saw Kim gather up her group and head out. She told Kelsey goodbye before she left, but only waved goodbye to me as she went out the door. This night was a total disaster. I started making sure that all of the drunk people had safe rides home and managed the cleanup crew. By 1 AM, I was finally heading up the stairs to try to get some sleep myself. I heard Kelsey crying in her room and I knew that the party was not what she had hoped. Honestly, it wasn't what I had expected either. Thank God there is always tomorrow!


	3. Chapter 3 Earthquake?

**Kickin It Fool here,**

**Sorry this took so long. I have been dealing with some things here because of a medical setback. I am not giving up or going anywhere. As you all know I am co-writing with a new friend of mine, luvkickinit01323 who is now .46. We have had a great time so far working on ideas and things for this. I just finished up this third chapter with collaboration from her because she still has a lot going on right now, too. I hope that you like this chapter, but be prepared as we go forward because there will be parts that will be hard to read. I really feel like it will move you when we are done so I hope you give it a chance. **

**Thank you all for the wonderful reviews. We love your input and hope that you like what we have to come for you. We have planned for the story to be about 15-20 chapters. Keep reading and let us know what you think. **

**We are dedicating this to everyone who has been affected by school shootings. Life will never be the same, but each day that we live and go on is a tribute to all of those who have fallen. Our prayers go out to all of the families and friends that have been hurt by a tragedy like this. **

**Remember to check out Polyvore and look for Kickinitfool. You will see any outfits that I talk about in the chapters there. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Kickin It or any of the characters in it. I do not own any of the clothing mentioned in this chapter. I do not own any of the songs used in this chapter. **

**Chapter 3 Earthquake?**

**KIM'S POV**

After the party, we took everyone home and then it was just Chloe, Ethan, and I as we walked back up to our house. I had tried to have fun at the party, but couldn't stop thinking about what happened between Jack and me.

"Penny for your thoughts, sis." Ethan said leaning over and bumping me in the side with his elbow.

I half smiled at him and replied. "It's nothing."

He looked at me like he didn't believe me. "Kim, are you still thinking about that jerk?" He asked.

I looked at Chloe wondering how our brother knew anything about it and she just shrugged her shoulders. "What are you talking about?" I asked.

"I overheard you and Jack out by the pool. He is an idiot and I will gladly beat him up for you. You are beautiful and always have been. You deserve someone who has always known that." He said putting his arm around my shoulders.

I wrapped my little brother up in a hug. He is actually taller than me now, but he is such a sweetheart. "Thank you, but you don't need to beat him up." I replied with a smile. "I just hate the thought that I am invisible to some people."

He spun around quickly and put his hands on my shoulders staring into my eyes. "I know that you should know this, but you are not invisible. I wouldn't know what to do without both of you. You are beautiful and he is stupid." Ethan said seriously.

I smiled at him and Chloe came up beside us putting her arms around both of us. "She knows that, E. We already had a good talk about it. I did talk to Jack, too. He said that he wanted to explain and I told him to talk to you about it, Kimmy. Since I know that you will be nice and listen to him, I will say only one thing. Make him work for your forgiveness because our little bro is right, you deserve it." She said smiling at both of us.

"Alright, alright. I know that I should not be worried about it so I won't, but we better get inside before Dad comes looking for us." I said as I started to walk toward the house. "I promise that I am fine. I will see what Jack has to say if he even decides to talk to me. Now let's go get some sleep. I love you both very much." I added as I turned around and hugged them both.

We went in the house to find Dad pretending to be interested in the late show. I love how predictable life is sometimes. I knew he would be up waiting for us.

"Hi, Dad. We are going up to bed so you can too now." I said patting him on the back as I crossed the room to head up the stairs.

"I just wanted to finish this show." He said.

"Sure, Dad." Chloe said with a smirk.

"We are all home and going to bed. Night, Dad." Ethan added.

"Did you all have a good time?" He asked.

"Yes, it was fun." I said as I headed up the stairs and made it to my door. I looked back at Chloe as she started to walk to her room. "Thank you for everything." I said to her.

Chloe stepped over to me and pulled me into a hug. "You don't have to thank me because that is what sisters are for. I will always be here to help you, Kimmy. It is my job and I love it." She said to me.

"You are the best." I told her.

"Please. I don't even come close to you. Go get some sleep and I will see you in the morning." She replied as she walked to her room and closed the door.

I went to bed and actually slept alright with just a few bad dreams. When I woke up the next morning, I looked out the window and let the sunshine fill my room. It is going to be a beautiful day and I am going to make sure to enjoy it.

There was a knock at my door and I heard Chloe. "Remember…we have the big school pics today so look fabulous!" She said through the door and then I heard her head down the stairs.

I got ready and looked in the mirror. I thought I had done pretty well. I had on a purple leather mini skirt with a wrap around scoop back purple top. I had my hair down and curly which is my favorite way to wear it. I put some purple clip-in hair extensions in my hair to add some dramatic streaks for fun. With the perfect purple makeup and jewelry, I only had to slip on my Giuseppe purple suede cutout booties and I was set.

I came out my door and ran into Ethan. He was looking adorable as always. "Gees, Kim. Who are you trying to impress today?" He asked.

"I could ask you the same thing. We have the big school picture today and tons of other ones for yearbook so that is why I am looking so nice." I explained striking a pose and he laughed.

We both made our way downstairs and joined the rest of the family at the table while Mom passed around scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast. We all started eating as we heard Grace coming in the front door. She joined us and we all talked about the party last night until it was time to leave.

**JACK'S POV**

I did not want to get up the next morning, but there was not much sleeping in either because Kelsey was up at the crack of dawn with her music blaring. I knew that she was going to be up early because of all of the pictures that would be taken today. 'Have to look your best' I could almost hear her saying to herself through the walls.

I rolled out of the bed and went to take a quick shower to wake up. I threw on a navy V neck shirt and some jeans. With a little product and a few tosses of my hair, I was ready for today. I came walking out of my room and went downstairs to find something to eat. One good thing about these parties is that the caterers always leave the fridge full of leftovers.

I looked out the window and saw a very upset Mom heading to the house. I started some coffee quickly because I knew that she would need it. She looked miserable and was stumbling the whole way to the back door. I opened the door for her and she glared at me.

"Why is it that the music has to be so loud? I really needed to sleep in this morning." She yelled while grabbing her head.

"Sorry, Mom. I think that Kels is just trying to wake up so that we can make it to school on time." I said softly. "I have the coffee on and here is some Tylenol." I added handing her the pills.

I walked over and poured her some coffee and then Lucita, our housekeeper, came in the room.

"Well, it is about time you got here. You are supposed to be here to make sure that my kids get a good breakfast before they go to school and my poor son had to do this himself." Mom yelled at her.

"Mom, it is not a big deal. I told her that she could come in late because she stayed last night and helped clean everything up." I said trying to diffuse the situation.

Kelsey walked in the room and mom glared at her. Mom took the coffee that I was holding out for her and walked past Kelsey as she left the room. "You really need to keep your music turned down some so people can sleep. You need to think about others more like your brother does." Mom said as she passed her.

I saw the instant pain in Kelsey's face and knew that I had to do something. Lucita put her arm around her shoulder as I spoke. "She is just hungover, Kels. You know that she didn't mean any of that." I said trying to get her to feel better.

She walked over to the blender and started mixing up another one of her breakfast shakes. Once she had it started, she turned back to look me in the eyes. "She meant every word. You really never do anything wrong in their eyes and I can't ever do anything right. Do you have any idea how that feels?" She said angrily and turned back to pour her shake into a glass.

"Kels, don't do this." I said touching her lightly on the back.

She turned around quickly and glared at me. She didn't say another word. She just crossed the floor and slammed the door as she left the house. I heard her jump in her car and fly down the road.

"She will be okay, Jack. She isn't mad at you just the way all of this makes her feel." Lucita said to me quietly.

I smiled at her. "Thanks. Good luck with Mom today. I will see you later." I said giving her a quick hug before grabbing my bag and heading out.

Lucita has been more like a mom to us than our mother ever has. We have been very lucky to have her in our lives for so long. I left the house and got into one of my cars and took off. Brody was right behind me as always.

We pulled up to the school which was already packed. It was weird how many people were here this morning, but I guess that they all knew it was the day of that stupid big picture.

Brody walked up to my car and tapped on the window. I turned the car off and climbed out. "Hey, Man. You look so bright and awake this morning." Brody said teasingly.

"Yeah, yeah. You are hilarious." I replied.

"Seriously, what is wrong?" He asked.

"Oh, Kels is mad at me. Mom did her usual rant this morning and Kels followed suit and got mad at me for it." I said. "It's nothing new. I just hate how she lets them get to her like this."

"Sorry, Man. Your sister has always been a bit of drama queen, but she knows that you are the only family member that she has fully on her side. She won't stay mad long." He responded patting me on the shoulder. "Let's go see where they are going to try to put us in this crazy photo shoot today." He added with a laugh.

"Oh boy. This is the highlight of my day." I replied sarcastically.

We started to walk away side by side and Brody smacked me in the chest stopping me in my tracks. "No, actually I think this might be the highlight." He said starring off to one side.

I turned to look at what he was talking about and saw Kim walking with Chloe into the school. She is so beautiful and I mean more than on the outside. I had spent most of the night not sleeping because I was thinking about all of the things that Kim had mentioned and how often I had seen her. I was such an idiot, no an Ass. There is no excuse for me not knowing that she had been the one around me all of those times except for that. I was embarrassed to have someone bring my mom home like that and I actually tried to block all of it out. Honestly, until she reminded me last night I didn't even remember that the person had turned down the money I offered them.

As I laid there trying to sleep last night, I had really searched through my memories and I saw Kim in every one of the situations perfectly. I saw her in her uniform at the country club restaurant and at her dad's detailing shop when I dropped off all of our stupid cars before my dad would come home to get mad because they weren't clean enough. I even remembered seeing her in class and I did notice her but I was scared to admit it because of my life. I even remembered when she brought my mom home over and over. I looked her in the eyes several times those nights, but I couldn't let myself focus on who was there because I just had to deal with my mom. I have to make sure that I get a chance to talk to her today and somehow find a way to make her understand.

I watched closely as they walked into the school and started walking again with Brody so that we weren't late. When we came in the doors, Kelsey saw me and glared as she flipped her hair and walked down the hall with Julie and Claire. "I guess she is still mad." Brody said with a smirk.

"Ya think so." I said hitting him in the stomach with my elbow.

We grabbed our books and headed to class. My first class was with Kim and her friend, Grace. I hurried in to get the seat right behind Kim so that maybe I could talk to her some during some of our down time. She looked up at me surprised as I walked past her and sat down behind her.

**KIM'S POV**

I was shocked to say the least that Jack rushed in and sat behind me, but it must have been one of the only seats left in the back row and I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of looking to check. I sat there trying to be as cool as I could about the whole thing, but honestly I was a wreck. I had always wanted Jack to pay attention to me and last night I found out that things like that just don't really happen.

I tried to pay attention during class, but I was too distracted by Jack and everything that happened last night running through my head. The teacher gave us the last 15 minutes of class to work on the assignment she gave us. She even said that we could talk about it together. She knew that the office would be calling everyone for the big picture outside in the next 10 minutes or so anyway.

I sat there and started on the assignment when someone tapped me on the shoulder. I turned to see Jack's face only a few inches from mine. I felt my breath catch and then spoke. "Yes?" I said.

"Kim, I wanted to talk to you some more last night, but I didn't get the chance. Do you have some time after class to talk?" He asked.

I was surprised, but Chloe had said he wanted to talk to me so I nodded my head and tried to smile even though it was hard. "I can do that, but we will have to talk after the pictures." I said knowing they always give us around 10 minutes to get back to our next class after they dismiss us.

"That will be great. I do want you to know something. I really am sorry. I remember you from all of those times and more. I couldn't do anything but think about it last night." He said and then he looked back down at his homework assignment.

I turned back around slowly and felt my heart racing slightly. I'm not sure why, but Jack actually seemed like he cared. I mean why would he admit that he thought about it all night if he didn't mean it. I got back to work on my assignment and then we heard our principal over the loud speaker.

"All students line up within your classrooms and your teachers will escort you out for our whole school picture. Do this in an orderly fashion?" He said gruffly. It was very obvious that he hated this day.

We all walked out and Grace and I found the guys, Chloe, and Taylor right away. I was going to be content with sitting somewhere in the middle of the group, but Chloe pulled my arm all the way to the front of the group. She is good friends with the photographer and he was thrilled to have us front and center. Ethan joined us and we all put on our best smiles.

By the time they were done with all of the pictures they needed, they took some smaller group picks of each grade and then dismissed us to go to our next class. We were given a 15 minute grace period to get to our lockers and then head to class.

It was time for my PE class so I headed to my locker and grabbed my bag so that I could change. I started to head to the girl's locker room when I heard Jack calling my name behind me.

I turned to see him coming down the hallway. "Hey, Jack." I said.

"Hey. I know we don't have very long, but I really want to talk to you about a few things." He said.

"Alright." I said waiting for him to continue.

"Not here." He said and then he looked down the hall until he saw what he wanted. "Come on we can talk in the art room. No one is in there this period."

I followed him down the hall and saw Chloe and Taylor walking down the stairs to their next class. Chloe smiled at me and mouthed 'Make him work.' I smiled back at her and nodded my head. I motioned to Grace that I would be just a minute as she went into the second floor of the gym, which was the running track.

Jack held the door to the art room open for me and I walked into the room and sat down on one of the desks. Jack looked like he was trying to decide what to say and then he sat down beside me and just started talking.

"Kim, I know I have said I'm sorry a lot already, but I want to make sure that you know how serious I am. I do remember you from all of the things that you mentioned and even some others. It isn't a good excuse, but I kind of don't pay attention to a lot of things. I am just trying to skate by here, Kim. I hate the fact that my mom is so upset most of the time that she has to drink it away." He started explaining and I found myself entranced listening to him and starring into his chocolaty eyes.

"It's okay, Jack." I started to say and he quickly put his finger up on my lips which instantly made me freeze in place. I felt like my heart stopped.

"No, it isn't. Kim I remember you very clearly. I just had to think about it. I remember you the night that you were waiting our table at the country club and my dad was a total ass because of something on his plate not being right. He took it out on you and it wasn't your fault. I remember the night that we ate there and my mom spilt her wine all over you." He said being so serious and I still couldn't move.

I was sitting on the desk with my hands sitting on my lap. Jack reached over and put his hand on mine as he continued. "I know that you were the one that was life guarding at the club when Kelsey dropped her charm bracelet in the pool and you jumped in to go get it for her. You always have the right answers in class and you help other people if they don't understand. I remember bringing the cars into your dad's shop to have them cleaned because my dad was coming home and they had to all be perfect. I was always in a hurry and a little grouchy, but you would still smile and make me smile. And most importantly, I remember every time you brought my mom home. I really did appreciate you doing that. I want you to understand that I wasn't meaning to ignore you in any of these situations, I was honestly…embarrassed and worked really hard to block all of those things out of my mind. What I didn't realize is that by doing that I was blocking you out, too." He finished and then he looked at me waiting for me to respond.

I didn't know what to say, but I felt a tear escape my eye and Jack reached up to wipe it away. "It really okay. I am glad that you explained, but I'm sorry that you had to. I didn't mean to make you feel like you had to share your personal business with me." I said and then stood up to say something else when the whole room started shaking and I reached out to grab the desk to steady myself.

I looked at Jack in panic. "What was that?" I asked.

"I don't know maybe an earthquake. Get under the desk." He said grabbing my arm and pulling me under the desk with him.

We sat there for a few minutes while the building continued to shake. I looked out the windows and could see smoke everywhere. I looked at Jack and I could feel myself start to hyperventilate. He put his hands on my arms and rubbed up and down rhythmically trying to calm me down.

"It's going to be okay, Kim." He kept saying over and over again.

Things were starting to settle down some and then it felt like there was a huge aftershock right under us. I turned and grabbed Jack's arms laying my head on his shoulder as he wrapped his arms around me.

**JACK'S POV**

I was holding Kim tightly against me when I looked up and saw flames outside the window. I knew this was not an earthquake, it was some sort of explosion. I didn't want to freak Kim out any more than she already was, but I didn't have a choice when I felt the next blast that came from directly below the art room that we were in.

As I saw the outer wall and part of the floor to the room we were in blow apart, I grabbed Kim and rolled with her across the floor toward the door of the room. I put my hand on Kim's cheek and saw the panic in her eyes as she realized this was no earthquake.

"Kim, we have to get out of here right now." I said.

She was trying to get to her feet as another explosion went off under us and blew both of us backwards against the wall. The room was full of smoke and flames. I stood up carefully and had something warm running down my cheek. I wiped it away and started looking for Kim.

"Kim! Kim, where are you?" I said as I started choking some on the smoke.

I was having a hard time seeing and then I heard her coughing a few feet away from me. I moved through the rubble and smoke to find Kim lying against the wall. She looked at me and there was some blood on her forehead. I bent down to try to help her up when I noticed that she was partially under some of the rubble.

"Kim, are you okay?" I said as I leaned down beside her.

"I'm…I'm fine. My head hurts some and I can't move my leg with this crap on it." She said holding her head, but trying to smile still.

I smiled at her. "Let's get you out of here and see what is going on." I said moving pieces of desks and even some bricks of the wall off of her carefully.

She looked up at me while she was helping to get herself free. "Jack, what do you think is going on?" She asked with that panicked look.

"I don't know. It was probably just something in the Science Lab below us. I'm sure that everything is ok." I lied trying to make her feel better.

"You are not a very good liar, Jack." She replied staring into my eyes. "I'm scared."

"I know. Me, too." I said lightly rubbing her arm. Then I looked at her more seriously. "But, Kim, I don't know what is going on out there, but we have to get out of what is left of this room. Can you walk?"

She nodded her head and I helped her to her feet. We carefully walked to the door hand in hand. I barely opened the door to look out. I saw a lot of panicked and scared students in the hall and alarms were going off everywhere. I looked back at Kim who had pulled herself together really well.

"Let's go, Jack. Before something else goes off below us and there isn't a floor to be standing on anymore." She said.

I nodded and opened the door enough for both of us to get out. That is when I heard Kelsey scream. I looked up to see her running down the hall away from us and then I turned to the other end of the hall and saw someone with a gun standing there. She was pointing the gun directly toward Kelsey. I didn't know what to do, but I had to stop her. I got ready to move, but Kim beat me to it.

She stepped out in the hall and looked the girl in the eyes. They were only about 15 feet away from each other.

"Jennifer, I know you don't want to do. I don't know what is going on here, but you need to put that gun down." Kim said with only a slight shake to her voice.

I looked back down the hall at Kelsey who had stopped and was looking back at Kim and I with total shock on her face.

"Kim, you need to move. NOW!" The girl named Jennifer said back to Kim in an angry voice.

Kim didn't move. I wanted to just grab her and pull her back into what was left of the art room with me, but I couldn't leave Kelsey either. I stood there trying to decide what to do when Kim started talking again.

"I can't. My leg got hurt in the art room when something blew up and I don't want you to do something you are going to regret." She said starting to inch toward Jennifer.

"Kim, don't move any closer to me. I am not putting this gun down until all of these stuck up people realize what they do to the rest of us every day." Jennifer shouted.

"Okay, tell me. Tell me exactly why you feel like you need to do this." Kim replied.

"You know why. Every day we come here and get treated like shit by these wanna be Barbie dolls. I'm tired of it. It is time for them all to learn a lesson. And who better to teach them with than the little queen bee herself." She said glaring down at Kelsey. "Now you need to get out of my way before you get hurt worse."

"Jennifer, please don't do this. There are other ways to make them pay. You are not this person." Kim tried reasoning with her.

"No, I am this person. People like her made me this person and I am going to finally show her that she can't keep doing this." She shouted again as she started to move closer to Kim with the gun pointed right at her.

"Jen, you don't really want to do this." Kim said begging one last time.

Jennifer was only about 5 feet away from Kim now and I was going to have to act quick. "Yes, I do." She said and then she tried to aim the gun around Kim. "And I'm not the only one." She added as she pulled back on the trigger.

Everything that happened next was so fast that it was hard to really keep track of. Kim jumped forward and kicked at Jen trying to knock her over. The gun went off and I bent down and swept Jen's legs out from underneath her. As she fell to her back, I scooped Kim up in my arms and ran down the hall toward Kelsey. We didn't have a lot of choices on places to hide. So I ran into boy's locker room and waited for everyone to join me before I locked the door.

I turned to see Brody was there and shouted. "Go lock the other door, but make sure that there isn't anyone on the track that needs in here first."

He ran off to do what I said as I sat Kim down on a bench and Kelsey ran into my arms. As she pulled back from me, she had a look of horror on her face.

"Jack, you've been shot!" She shouted.

"No, I'm fine." I said looking down at myself and that is when I realized that I did have blood all over my shirt, but it wasn't mine. I looked down at Kim who was lying back on the bench looking really pale. "Oh my God, Kim!"

"I'm fine. It just nicked me." She said trying to sound convincing, but she is a bad liar too.

I bent down to see where she had been shot and saw that the bullet grazed her in the leg. She was bleeding pretty bad, but I knew that I could get it under control with a tourniquet.

"Kels, go grab the first aid kit over there." I said and she ran across the room to get it.

She brought it back and we looked through it to see what we could use for Kim. Kelsey helped me by cleaning up Kim's other wounds quickly while I worked on her leg. I put a bandage on it, but it wasn't quite big enough to stop the bleeding. I pulled my shirt off and wrapped it around her leg tightly covering her wound completely.

"Kels, go get me my other shirt out of my locker please. It is 119 right over there." I said pointing toward my locker.

She started to go over to get it and then Brody was there. "I got it. Go sit down, Kels." He said and went to my locker.

I looked back down at Kim and she was trying to smile at me. "Are you okay?" I asked.

"I'm good. But if you wanted to see what my reaction would be from you taking your shirt off, you didn't have to go to this extreme." She said with a small laugh.

I laughed too. "Very funny." I said as Brody tossed me my other shirt and I slipped it on. "You probably need to change because this is outfit has a lot of blood on it and it wouldn't hurt to get out of those heels." I told her.

"Yeah. You are right. I am a mess." She said trying to stand up. I helped her up and she looked at me. "Give me just a minute. I can do this on my own."

Kelsey walked over to the two of us. "I can help her, Jack." She said coming over and taking Kim's bag from her. "Lean on me, Kim." She added.

Kim leaned on Kelsey and they walked over to one of the bathroom stalls to change.

**KELSEY'S POV**

I helped Kim into another room to change. We closed the door and I hung her bag on the hook. I helped her stay on her feel while she changed her top and then she sat down to change her shorts and shoes. I helped her back up to her feet and she smiled at me.

"You look more comfortable now. Are you alright?" I asked.

"I'm fine. Really I am." She said to me with a smile.

Why is she so nice all of the time? I don't know how she does it. It has to be exhausting. "Kim, can I ask you something?" I said.

"Sure. What is it?" she replied.

"How did you know that girl? How did you know she wouldn't shoot you?" I asked.

Kim gulped and then looked at me so seriously. "I didn't know she wouldn't. I was just hoping I could get through to her. We have had classes together for years and I know she…she is a good person. She is just really upset about something." She answered with a few tears in her eyes.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to upset you. I wanted to thank you. She was going to shoot me before you walked out in front of her." I said walking over to her to give her a quick hug. "I love your shirt." I added trying to change the subject with a smile.

She giggled lightly and then replied. "Thanks. You look pretty good yourself."

"Oh yeah. Nothing makes a girl look better than gym shorts and a tank top." I responded.

"Come on. Let's get out here and figure out what we are going to do." Kim added as we walked out of the room.

**KIM'S POV**

We came out and I looked around the room to see who was with us. I saw Brody and Jack talking about something and then I saw Grace bent over crying in one of the back corners of the room. I hobbled over to her quickly with Kelsey trailing behind me and pulled her up into my arms.

"Oh my God, Kim. Thank God you are okay. I was so worried when I didn't know where you were." She said. "I saw you go in the art room with Jack, but then everything went crazy and I didn't know where you were." She added as she hugged me tighter.

"Grace, I'm fine and I am so glad that you are here with me. Do you have any idea who all is involved? We couldn't see much from the art room. " I said.

"I don't know. We were stretching before we started running and then one side of the gym filled with smoke and some…of the…kids…on…the track…" Grace said through tears and sobs.

I leaned back and looked her in the eyes. Kelsey came up closer to us and wrapped her arm around Grace's shoulders with a few tears in her eyes, too. I didn't need them to finish telling me what happened. I knew. I knew that when the explosion went off part of the track fell with kids on it. I didn't know how many, but I knew that there were people out there that had fallen and were hurt or dead. My heart sunk and I started thinking about everyone that was in PE with Grace and I.

I turned around to face the rest of the people in the room. "Brody, when you went out to see if anyone needed in here, did you look to see if there were people that were hurt?" I asked.

He looked up at me with a sad look on his face and nodded. "Kim, there were some people that were injured, but they are all downstairs now. I couldn't get to them. There were others who weren't moving." He replied.

I looked at Jack and then I started to head for the door that connected to the gym. I felt someone moving up behind me quick and then his hands were on my arms. "Kim, we can't go out there. We have to make a plan." He said staring into my eyes seriously.

"Jack, listen to me. My sister and Taylor were in classes downstairs. My little brother was in the weight room below us and I knew every person that was in my PE class and there are over 15 of them not in here with us. I can't stay in here and do nothing. I have to go see if I can help them." I said and then Kelsey moved up beside me.

"She's right, Jack. We need to go see if we can help any of them. I was right there and I just ran in the opposite direction to the girl's locker room. I ran away." Kelsey said as a few tears fell down her cheeks.

"Ok, we will go check it out, but you guys need to stay in here." Jack replied to the two of us.

"Jack, I can help." I said and I leaned closer to him. "I have to find my family."

He put his hands on my arms and looked caringly into my eyes. "Kim, let us go see what things are like first. It is going to be hard to deal with. Let me do this." He said.

He was being so sincere and I nodded my head in agreement. "Kels, stay here with Kim and Grace. We will be right back." He added patting his sister on the arm. "Don't open the door unless you know it is us."

She put her arm in mine to help hold me up and nodded her head, too. We stood there together and watched as Jack, Brody, and some of the other guys went to the door that connected to the gym and slowly opened it looking out. I walked up behind them to lock the door. Jack made sure the coast was clear and then they all started going out. I grabbed his arm before he left and made him look at me one more time.

"Be careful." I said.

He just smiled at me. "Always." He said. "Lock the door."

I closed and locked the door behind him. Then leaned my back up against the door, closed my eyes, and praying that they would find people and they would all be safe while doing it.

**JACK'S POV**

I joined the other guys and looked around at the devastation that used to be our school gym. I was blown away by what I was seeing and felt like I couldn't even believe any of it. I had to snap out of it quickly. I started looking more closely at the wreckage. Our gym was a huge building that had an upper level running track was really destroyed.

The outside corner of the gym was completely gone and the section of the track that was above it was, too. I looked ahead of me and there was another section of the track that was missing about 25 ft from us. There was an 8 ft gap in the track and then there was still a section of the track in place before you came to the corner that was missing. I saw some students on the separated section of track. They were sitting ducks there because they had nowhere to hide.

"We have to get them off of there." I said looking back at Brody.

We both ran over and got some ropes from the storage closet that were for the rock climbing wall and raced over to the break in the track as fast as we could. Brody and I both tossed ropes over the rafters and then snapped on climbing harnesses. We clipped on to the ropes and knew what we had to do. A couple of the guys held onto the ends of the ropes and we looked at each other as we started to swing over to get some of our classmates.

We swung across and each got someone to take back with us. As my feet hit the track, I felt it shake under me. I knew that Brody felt the same thing because I saw it in his face. "We have to hurry." I said to him as we swung back across putting the two girls on the safe side of the track before going back to get more people.

Every time I hit the bad piece of track, it moved more than the last. We had made several trips, but there were still 3 students over there. As soon as I touched down this time, I looked up and saw some of the cables were giving out. We were out of time and I knew it.

"Brody, hurry up." I said to him as he got a guy to swing across with and then I looked at the last two kids left. "You both have to come now. I will get you across." I said to them.

We swung across and I have never felt so happy when my feet hit the good side of the track. They were all safe and then I looked down the track toward the locker room and saw Kim standing there with Kelsey and Grace. They were taking in the mess and then I saw Kim start running toward the stairwell with tears in her eyes.

I ran toward her full speed and grabbed her just as she was starting to open the door to the stairs. "Kim, we have to get back in the locker room. You can't go down there right now." I said.

"Jack, that is Ethan right down there." She said crying and pointing down to the lower level of the gym.

I looked where she was pointing and saw Kim's brother lying on the ground near the volleyball court. He was moving some and trying to get some of the rubble off of his lower body, but he couldn't do it on his own. I also saw a lot of other people. Some were moving and others weren't.

I looked back at Kim and didn't know what to say. "I don't know what to do, but I have to get down there to him and see if I can help anyone else, too." Kim said through her tears.

"Look at me. Kim, breathe. We will go help them. We will get your brother." I said to her.

"Jack, we have to be smart about this." Brody said coming up behind us. "We need to get all of these people in the locker room where they will be safe for a little while and make a plan."

Kim walked up to Brody and looked him in the eye. "I know we need to make a plan, but that is my brother down there and I am going to get him now. You should probably stay up here anyway because after hearing what Jennifer had to say, it sounds like they are mostly after all of you guys. I can go help the people down there." She said and then started to turn back toward the stairs.

"You are not going anywhere on your own. Brody is right that we do need to make a plan before we go down there. I promise it won't take long, but the people responsible for this could be anywhere." I said to her.

That is when someone came over the loud speakers and we all just froze to listen to what was being said.

"Hello, fellow students. Our school is no longer in the hands of the people who have let us get bullied and tortured every day for years. It is now going to be a place where the real monsters are punished for what they have done and we are going to start with some of the best. Here they are to introduce themselves…" An angry girl said.

There was a pause and then we heard some other voices. Some of them were crying and others were just angry. Then it happened. "Come on you all have never been shy before. Tell everyone your names!" The girl said loudly.

The first voice was Brett and he was pissed. "It's me, Brett. Just sitting here in the office with these three crazy people holding guns at my head."

Then there was another voice crying. "I'm Taylor and I am really scared." She said and Kim started to crumble in my arms.

"Come on the rest of you cannot be shy like this." The girl said.

"I'm Josh. I'm just a football player and I don't know why you guys are doing this." He said.

"Just to teach all of you that being a part of the 'It' crowd doesn't make you better than all of us. You don't get to give us stupid and harsh names anymore. We are running the show now." A boy said.

The next voice took Kim to her knees before I could even catch her. "I am not afraid of you and I don't know why you are doing this to us. We never did anything to you. I am just a student like all of you. Now, you have a whole school scared and that makes you feel special…strong. How is what you are doing any better than what you are claiming all of us have done? I am Chloe Crawford and I am not scared of you." That is when the gun shot went off and Kim was hysterical and I didn't know what to do.


	4. Chapter 4 The Hard Truth!

**Kickin It Fool here, **

**We are still cowriting. This is our 4****th**** chapter and I loved writing it with collaboration from her. I am still having bad and good days, I am not going to lie, but I am not giving up. I am not going anywhere. I am sorry that you have to keep waiting for this chapters, but I am getting ready to have surgery again so please be patient with me. Please be prepared as we go forward because there will be parts that will be hard to read. I really feel like it will move you when we are done so I hope you give it a chance. **

**REG UPDATES FOR THIS STORY ARE PLANNED FOR MONDAYS. I AM REALLY TRYING TO STICK TO THIS SCHEDULE FOR MY STORIES, BUT SOMETIMES I JUST CAN'T GET A CHAPTER DONE DEPENDING ON WHAT IS GOING ON WITH ME. **

**Please keep the reviews coming. I love to hear from all of you more than you know. It really means a lot!**

**We are dedicating this to everyone who has been affected by school shootings. Life will never be the same, but each day that we live and go on is a tribute to all of those who have fallen. Our prayers go out to all of the families and friends that have been hurt by a tragedy like this. **

**Remember to check out Polyvore and look for Kickinitfool. You will see any outfits that I talk about in the chapters there. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Kickin It or any of the characters in it. I do not own any of the clothing mentioned in this chapter. I do not own any of the songs used in this chapter. **

**Chapter 4 The Hard Truth!**

**JACK'S POV**

We were all frozen as I dropped to my knees by Kim wrapping my arms around her while she cried. Then one voice snapped her out of it.

"No! Chloe! No!" It was faint but we all heard it and Kim jumped to her feet wiping her face off and looking down at her brother.

"Ethan! Stay still. I am coming for you." She shouted down at him and then she turned to me. "Jack I have to go now so its stairs or lowering me down on one of those ropes, but I have to get to him." She said to me.

"Ok." I replied turning to look at everyone still standing there in shock. "Anyone who can, needs to come help us. There are a lot of other students down there and we need to get to them. Kelsey and Grace, can you guys take care of the people who are hurt up here and we will be back with more." I said.

Everyone snapped into action because we had to. I knew Kim's heart was broken with fear for Chloe, but she was trying to focus on Ethan and I needed to help her with that. We started down the stairs carefully making sure to watch for anyone with guns. We got to the lower section of the gym and Kim started to just run out and I grabbed her around the waist stopping her.

"Just a minute, Kim. Let's be careful." I told her and she nodded in defeat even though she just wanted to get to her little brother.

Brody and I went out first and everything was horrible. I found myself getting lost in the devastation of it all. Half of the outer wall to the gym was gone and engulfed in flames along with most of the weight room. It was a miracle anyone was still alive down here.

As far as we could tell, the coast was clear of any of the shooters so everyone moved out further and started trying to help as many of the other students as we can. Kim ran straight over to Ethan and was trying to help him get the rubble off of his legs, but some of it was pretty big. It took Brody and I to help them finally get the one large piece off of him. With that moved, Ethan was free.

He looked up at Kim panicked. "Kimmy, my leg is definitely broken. There is no way I am going to be able to walk on it." He said. "You have to get out of here. I will be ok."

"I am not leaving you." She said with an aggravated look on her face. "I will pull you to somewhere safe myself if I have to. Can you use your other leg at all?" She asked.

He tried to push up some on his other leg, but fell back down quickly. "No. Sorry. It hurts really bad, too."

"It's ok. We will get you out of here, but I need to check on some other kids, too. I will be right back." She said as she kissed him on the forehead and started helping with other students.

I felt sick as I searched through the rubble trying to find classmates in it. Everyone that we found was pulled out and if we could save them, we tried to. There were too many that were already gone. I heard Kim gasp and ran over to her. She had found one of her friends, Jerry, and he wasn't moving. I helped her pull him out and before I knew what was going on she started doing CPR on him. I watched in amazement.

"Martinez, you are not getting off this easy. Breath damn it!" She said in between giving him breaths and pounding on his chest.

All of the sudden, Jerry started coughing and Kim bent down instantly hugging him. "I'm ok, Kim. I'm ok." He kept saying softly to her.

It was amazing that she could do that. I knew she was still heartbroken and scared for Chloe, but she was doing whatever she could to help everyone else.

I looked around the gym and saw this scene being repeated in a few different places. Several of our classmates knew CPR and were working on other students. I went back to work trying to find who we could. After about 30 minutes, we had found 18 people. Four of them did not make it unfortunately. One was the girls' PE teacher and the other three were students just like us. I can't believe this. I can't believe this has happened here.

We carefully laid the people that we had lost along the inside wall of the gym and helped the others upstairs to the locked safety of the locker room. Although seeing the devastation that whatever bomb went off down here caused, I don't know that anywhere is safe. It would have been better if we could have gotten out of the school, but the missing wall was engulfed in flames. I tried to look closer and see what our options were, but it was really hard to find any other options for us right now.

**KIM'S POV**

I watched as Jack tried to find a way out for us, but knew that he was not happy with what he was seeing. I helped a few people up the stairs and then came back down to him. I walked over to him and put my hand lightly on his shoulder. He looked down at me and tried to smile, but I could see that he was not holding out much hope right now.

"Jack, I don't know how, but this is going to be ok." I said softly wrapping my arm around his and laying my head on his shoulder. "I know you want save everybody, but you already helped me get to Ethan and all of these other students. We just have to keep going. That is what Chloe would say." I felt a tear escape my eye at the thought of my sister and it was quickly wiped away by Jack.

"Let's get upstairs and figure out what we are going to do next." He said gently wrapping his arm around my back as we walked. "Oh and Kim, you are the one who was helping save lives. You were amazing doing that CPR. I can't believe how many people you helped."

I looked up at him and smiled. "Well you do have to know how to do that when you are a lifeguard. I guess my working girl situation came in handy for once." I said.

"I think it always came in handy, especially for me and my family. I just never realized it before because I was embarrassed and stupid. I really am sorry about that because you are amazing." He said to me.

"We are past all of that now, Jack. We really do have to figure out a way to get out of here though." I said as we reached the upper platform and then as if on cue, I felt the floor beneath me start shaking.

I quickly grabbed a hold of Jack and he leaned up against the wall for support holding me to his chest tight. I could feel the fear spreading through me and then it all stopped again. I looked at Jack and he was running his hand through my hair, but I wasn't sure if he was trying to calm me down or himself.

"Let's get back to everyone in the locker room and decide what to do next." He said pulling me to my feet with him while he stood up. "I don't know what just blew up, but we can't stay here."

We walked into the locker room and Kelsey ran up to Jack hugging him. "Thank God you are ok." She said. "What was that?" She asked with tears in her eyes.

"Another bomb went off. We have to figure out how we are getting out of here." He replied.

"Kimmy." Ethan said and I went to check on him. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah, I am. How are you?" I asked seeing that he was going to need medical care soon just like a lot of the other students in here with us.

"I'm ok. Do you think they really shot Chloe?" He asked and my heart sank.

"I hope not, but I don't know. We have to take care of each other and hope that she is ok." I said hugging my little brother to me.

Jack came over and knelt down beside us. "How's he doing?" He asked me.

"He is doing great, but he is going to need a doctor and so are a lot of the other kids in here." I said. "What's the plan?" I asked.

"Well, Brody and I are going to go with some of the guys to try and find the easiest way out of here." He told us.

"Ok. That sounds good. I will go with you." I said.

"No, you are going to stay here." He replied.

I rolled my eyes and stared at him. "You need someone who knows how to do some medical treatments with you. I will go." I repeated.

"I don't really want you out there either, Kimmy." Ethan said.

I looked back at him. "I know, but I have to see if I can help some other people. Maybe I can even find Chloe." I added.

They both shook their heads at me and then another announcement came over the intercom. "Hello fellow students. We are not going to ask for this many more times. You heard the bomb that went off just a little while ago and there are more that will go off soon so if you think you are safe, you are wrong. We just want the so called 'It' crowd to pay for the things they have done to all of us and this will stop. So if you help us get all of them rounded up, we will let the rest of you go." The voice said and I was desperately trying to hear a glimpse of Chloe's voice in the background, but I heard nothing.

I looked back at Jack and said, "I am going so let's get out of here."

I stood up and grabbed some first aid supplies before I kissed Ethan on the top of the head and hugged Grace who was tending to Jerry. Then I walked to the door where Jack and the other guys joined me. We left the room to try to find some way to get out of here.

**CHLOE'S POV**

I listened as the crazy students made another announcement and I wanted so badly to say something so that Kim and Ethan would know I was ok if they were still in the school somewhere, but I didn't. I looked at the pool of blood beside me and had to close my eyes to try to block out the memory of watching the gun go off and kill Josh who had been right at my side.

I couldn't believe it. I was the one who had made them mad and Josh paid for it. I felt horrible, but there was nothing I could do now except try to not fall to pieces when that was all that I wanted to do.

I don't understand what would have driven these students to do this. I mean guns and bombs in our school, killing other students, and claiming it was because of them being treated badly by all of us. I didn't even know some of these students that well. I may not have been their best friends, but I was never mean to them and what had Josh done to them.

Then as I thought about him and saw the boy who pulled the trigger in my mind, a memory came racing back to me. I had seen Josh and some of the other guys coming out of the locker room laughing a few months ago followed by the boy who just shot him. He was soaken wet and looked horrified and upset. I didn't think too much about it at the time because the guys were always playing pranks on each other, but was that why he shot Josh. Oh my God, how much crap did all of these kids have to go through like that to push them to this extreme?

These thoughts just kept racing through my head as I tried to scoot back some to lean my back against a desk and get closer to Taylor. I knew she was as scared as I was and I just didn't want to be alone right now. When I got over closer to her, she leaned up against the desk with me.

"Chloe, I am so scared. How are we going to get out of here?" She asked with a shaky voice.

"I don't know, Tay." I said quietly as I looked back over toward Josh. "I just hope that we can figure something out."

I looked back at my best friend and we both had tears in our eyes. "Are we going to get shot, too?" She asked.

"I hope not, but I didn't think they would shot him so I don't know. We just have to do what they say now and hopefully we can all get out of this ok." I said to her. My hands were trembling and so were hers. I looked over at Brett and he still looked really angry.

I whispered to him. "Brett, please don't try anything. They will shot you. Please don't leave us here alone."

His face softened some and he started to move over to us slowly. He scooted up right in between us and we all leaned up against the desk together. I laid my head on his shoulder and he said softly back to me. "I won't do anything, Chloe. I would never leave you two alone in this."

"Thank you." I replied.

We all sat there together and tried to just stay quiet and as calm as we could so that hopefully we would not get any more of the shooters attention. I was scared, but not just for me and my friends here in this room, I was scared for my brother and sister and everyone else that I knew was out in the school somewhere as scared as we are. The hard truth is none of us may make it out of this and there is really not much we can do to change that.


	5. Chapter 5 Trapped!

**Kickin It Fool here, **

**I am still hanging in, but things have been a bit rough. This is the 5****th**** chapter and I hope you all really like it. I am sorry that you didn't get it yesterday when you were supposed to. Please know that I pour all that I am into these stories and I really hope you all like them or will give me your opinions so that I can learn and improve. Thank you. Please be prepared as we go forward because there will be parts that will be hard to read. I really feel like it will move you when we are done so I hope you give it a chance. **

**REG UPDATES FOR THIS STORY ARE PLANNED FOR MONDAYS. I AM REALLY TRYING TO STICK TO THIS SCHEDULE FOR MY STORIES, BUT SOMETIMES I JUST CAN'T GET A CHAPTER DONE DEPENDING ON WHAT IS GOING ON WITH ME. **

**Please keep the reviews coming. I love to hear from all of you more than you know. It really means a lot!**

**We are dedicating this to everyone who has been affected by school shootings. Life will never be the same, but each day that we live and go on is a tribute to all of those who have fallen. Our prayers go out to all of the families and friends that have been hurt by a tragedy like this. **

**Remember to check out Polyvore and look for Kickinitfool. You will see any outfits that I talk about in the chapters there. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Kickin It or any of the characters in it. I do not own any of the clothing mentioned in this chapter. I do not own any of the songs used in this chapter. **

**Chapter 5 Trapped!**

**KIM'S POV**

I knew Jack didn't like the idea of me going with them, but they really didn't have a choice. We left the locker room and there were ten of us altogether. Jack and Brody led the way down the staircase and checked the door at the bottom to make sure the coast was still clear. We were back on the main bottom level of the gym and I made the mistake of looking to the side where we had left the people we couldn't save. I had a tear run down my cheek and Jack came up to me and put his arm around me turning me away from the scene.

"We have to keep going." He said gently.

I never thought of him as a particularly sweet person, but he really does care. I could see the sadness in his eyes, but he was right. We had to see who else was out there and if we could get all of us out of here. He wiped my tear away and we started walking to the doors that exit the gym to the outside.

As soon as we got close enough, I froze. "Stop." I said quietly, but loud enough for them all to hear me.

"What is it?" Brody asked looking at me.

I moved in front of them quickly. "Don't touch the doors. Look at those wires." I said pointing to a group of wires that were wrapped around the underneath of the handles.

"What the hell?" Jack said moving closer to look with me.

I bent down and saw that there was a small timer attached to the wires and they were fed to the outside of the door. "Jack, that has to be a bomb." I said looking at him and shaking slightly. "I think that we can check all the doors we want, but we have to assume that all of our exits are going to be blocked like this. They wanted to keep everyone in." I could feel my breathing increase slightly as the realization hit me…WE ARE TRAPPED!

"Ok. Well, we have to keep trying." Jack said putting his hand on my shoulder lightly.

I looked back at the timer and added. "Jack, that's fine, but whatever we are going to do we need to hurry. The timer only has 15 minutes left on it." I looked at him and we all moved quickly to the doors that would take us into the hall.

After the guys checked it out, they came back into the gym. "Kim, I really don't think you should go out there." Jack said. "It isn't pretty."

I looked up at him and I took a deep breath. "I have to try. Let's go." I said closing my eyes to try to clear my mind and prepare me for whatever I was about to see.

We walked out into the hall which was still full of a light amount of smoke. I immediately saw two of our classmates on the floor leaned up against lockers. I knelt down to them and quickly realized that the guy named Matthew was already gone. The girl, Shauna, who was clinging to him crying, was alright with just a few cuts and bruises. She didn't want to let him go and I had to get Brody to help me with her.

"I'm sorry, Shauna. He is gone, but we have to get you out of here." I kept saying to her over and over.

"Just let me get her." Brody said as he picked her up and she gave in and went limp in his arms.

I looked at her and she was still breathing. "She just passed out from the stress. Take her up to the locker room and I have a feeling we will still be here when you get back." I said as I looked at all of the devastation in front of me.

Brody disappeared quickly and two of the other guys moved Matthew into the gym with the others. I saw that there had been several bombs of some sort that had gone off because I could see inside the library. The wall was completely gone. I started moving forward down the hall and tried to keep my focus on helping anyone that I found along the way, but my mind was already in that library looking for my other friends. Someone grabbed my wrist which made me jump.

I turned around and was quickly pulled into a classroom. To say that it startled me was an understatement. I got ready to fight whoever it was and then I saw Milton's face looking at me. I jumped into his arms hugging him with everything in me.

"Oh my God, Milton, I was so scared when I saw the library. Are you ok?" I asked as I lowered myself back to the ground.

"Yes. I am ok, but I just barely got out of the library in time. I was lucky because I got up to go to the bathroom and was in here when the bomb went off." He said and looked down at the floor. "I have been hiding in here ever since."

I made him look at me. "Stop it. We have all been hiding until just now. Come on. Let's get out of here together." I said to him taking his hand.

As we exited the boy's bathroom, I ran smack into a panicked Jack who was obviously worried about where I was. "Where have you been? Don't do that again. Please!" He said not even letting me speak as he hugged me.

"I'm sorry. Milton pulled me into the bathroom. I was just glad he was ok. I won't disappear again. I promise." I replied while he was squeezing me tighter and tighter.

"Ok." He said and then he looked at Milton. "Are you hurt?"

Milton shook his head. "I can help you guys." He said. "I actually overheard some of them talking while I was hiding in here. They have all of the exits blocked with explosives so that no one can leave or get in. They wanted everyone to be stuck in here so they could punish people, but they weren't counting on some of the gym classes being outside today. All of those people were evacuated on buses somewhere."

I was listening to everything Milton was saying and shaking my head as I tried to wrap my head around all of this.

"Do you know how many there are?" Jack asked.

Milton shook his head. "No, I saw 3 of them talking about this. The thing is that they are not normally a group that would have hung out together. I mean they are all outcasts like us." Milton said motioning to me and him. "But they don't normally talk to each other either. I think there are several of them and from what I saw, they all have guns and will use them. I think they just finally had enough and someone snapped and got all the others to follow. We have to find a way out…soon!"

I took another deep breath. "Let's see who else we can find and work on that way out." I said.

They both nodded and we were working our way down the hall. Luckily, Milton knows first aid really well so he was helping me with everyone. Every room that we passed, one of our groups would go in to check for students that were hiding. We found several thank the Lord and someone would take them up to the locker room before returning to help us.

I looked at Jack. "We have about 9 minutes left before that bomb goes off." I said. "And we don't know if there are others around here, too."

"Ok. Let's hurry." He replied touching my cheek with his hand.

I felt a shiver run through me at his touch and smiled a small smile at him. I can't believe it, but I am actually really happy that he is here to help me through this. I grabbed his hand and held it as we moved into the library or what was left of it.

**JACK'S POV**

When Kim took my hand, it felt so right. I wanted to get her out of here and make sure that she was safe, but I knew that the only way I could do that was to keep moving forward so that is what I did. I was going to keep her at my side though because I don't want her disappearing on me again.

The library looked worse than the gym if possible because it was a smaller space and not only was the wall gone, but the bookcases and all of the books were everywhere. I watched as Kim and Milton both snapped into first aid mode. I started helping the other guys move things to see if we could find people. Milton was really helpful here because he had been in the library and knew how many people we were looking for.

We found several students that had been injured, but Kim thought they should be alright. She bandaged people as quickly as she could and then she saw the librarian and ran across the room to her.

I went over to help her seeing the woman was stuck under a very large bookcase. After three of us got it off of her, Kim started checking her out and her eyes opened as she looked up at Kim.

"You found me. Thank you." She said in very breathy words. There was some blood coming from her nose and the corner of her mouth.

Kim started to try to help her, but I saw how her face fell. Milton ran over to help her, but then he must have realized the same thing as Kim.

Kim bent down beside her and held her hand. "Yep, Mrs. Swanson, we found you and we are going to stay here with you. Just rest." She said to her as she smoothed out Mrs. Swanson's hair and smiled at her.

I could see that she wanted to crumble, but she didn't. She truly is amazing. "Thank you, Kim." Mrs. Swanson replied even quieter than before.

After another minute her eyes closed and she wasn't breathing anymore. I saw Kim lean her head down against her shoulder and could tell she was crying. I put my hands on her shoulders and pulled her up to me hugging her to my chest.

"I'm sorry, Kimmy." I said softly into her hair as she cried.

Two of the guys picked up Mrs. Swanson and moved her over with the other people we couldn't save in the library. It felt like we weren't able to do enough, but I had to look at all of the students and even faculty that we had found.

"Come on, Kimmy. Let's keep moving." I said, not realizing I had used her nickname so easily, and she nodded her head as she wiped her eyes.

We all walked out of the library and were really close to the office. I knew that Kim wanted to go that way, but we couldn't yet. "Kim, we have to go the other way and see how many more people we can find first. We can't just go in there and try to talk to them." I said trying to make her understand.

"I know. I just want to know about Chloe." She replied and I nodded, but kept us moving down the hall the other way.

The next room was the Media club room and I actually really wanted to get in there to see what we could see on the equipment about what was going on. There were four more students in there and they already had one of the computers up with live coverage of our school on it.

I sat down and pulled Kim with me still holding her. We all watched in astonishment as we got the first glimpses of the outside of our building. It was engulfed in flames and smoke in several places. There were police cars and people everywhere outside.

"Our reports have told us that so far 4 bombs have gone off. The first few were in vehicles that hit the outside of the building and the others were in the interior of the school. Several students were outside and evacuated by buses to a safe location. Families are being notified and told where to meet their children while other parents are waiting outside the police barricades praying that their children are alright." The reporter said. "So far no demands have been made and the police are not releasing any information about who is behind this attack of Seaford High School. All we can do at this time is offer our prayers and thoughts to all of the students and faculty stuck in the building."

I looked at Kim and she was frozen. I wrapped my arms around her securely and squeezed her trying to make her feel better and get my own head on straight.

"We need to take this with us upstairs." I said. "Brody, show these guys were to go." I added as he took them all up to the locker room.

While we got ready to head out of the room, several phones started going off both in the room and outside of it. We all quickly picked ours up and talked to whoever was on the other side of the line. I looked outside the room and heard where all of the beeps and rings were coming from.

"Put your phones on vibrate." I said to everyone in the room with me. "Those are going to tell the shooters exactly where everyone is."

Kim looked at me and followed my directions quickly. "Mom, I will call you back as soon as I can." She said into the phone. Then she looked up at me. "I don't even know if she heard me. The reception in the school is so bad."

"It will be ok, but we need to find the students with those phones before anyone else does." I said quietly as we moved into the hall.

We went into three more rooms when Kim looked at me with a panicked face. "Jack, the bomb…." She said and I knew it was going to go off.

I grabbed her and pulled her under the closest desk with me while everyone else took cover, too. We didn't know if that was the only bomb scheduled to go off now or if there were others and where they might be. We all stayed still while we felt the shake from the bomb at the gym door, but stayed down to make sure that everything was done before we moved.

"I think that we need to keep moving." I said as I pulled Kim back up to her feet. "Are you doing ok?" I asked looking at her leg.

"Yeah. I'm good." She replied.

We went on down the hall and helped whoever we could. We had covered about as much ground as we could in one trip and still hadn't found a way out. We helped the injured people upstairs and left a few more in the gym that didn't make it.

As we came back into the gym, there was more smoke and the one set of doors were destroyed and replaced by a pile of rubble that we were not going to be able to escape. "Jack, maybe we are just going to have to risk getting burnt. We may only be able to get out of here through the hole in the wall." Kim said pointing over to what was left of the gym wall.

"I know. I have been thinking that too. We still have a few other options that I want to check first." I replied.

When we walked up the stairs and into the locker room, I saw how crowded it was getting. Milton rushed over to check on Jerry and Grace. They all really did care about each other a lot. I saw Ethan starring at Kim and hugged her while turning her around to see that he wanted her.

Kelsey hugged me and asked. "Well, can we get out of here?"

I didn't know how to answer her, but I knew I had to. "So far…we are trapped!" I said and Kim turned to look at me hearing what I had said.

"We will figure something out." Kim replied. "We can do it. They can't keep us trapped forever." It was her turn to encourage me and she said just what I needed to hear. Even with all of the people that we had lost, Kim was still holding onto hope. Even with not knowing about Chloe and barely being able to talk to her mom, Kim was not giving up and I wasn't going to either.


End file.
